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JOURNAL  OF  EDUCATIONAL  RESEARCH  MONOGRAPHS 
NUMBER  TWO 

A  Study  of  Some  High  School 
Seniors  of  Superior  Intelligence 

YATES 


JOURNAL  OF  EDUCATIONAL  RESEARCH  MONOGRAPHS 

No.  2  B.  R.  BUCKINGHAM,  Editor  June,  1922 


A  Study  of  Some  High  School  Seniors  of 
Superior  Intelligence 


DOROTHY  HAZELTINE  YATES,  Ph.  D. 

Member  of  the  'Stanford  University  Research  Staff  for  the 
Study  of  Gifted  Children 


PUBLIC  SCHOOL  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

Bloomington,  Illinois 


Copyright  1922  by 

Public  School  Publishing  Co. 

Bloomington,  Illinois 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Editor's  Introduction v 

Introduction 1 

Purpose  and  Method  of  this  Study 4 

Nature  of  the  two-groups  selected 8 

Nativity,  Home  Conditions,  and  Relatives 17 

Health  and  Physical  Development 26 

Education  and  Mental  Development 34 

Interests 47 

Conclusion 61 

Appendix  A 

Case  Studies  of  Three  Superior  Boys 67 

Appendix  B 

Questionnaire 70 


ACKNOWLED  GMENTS 

The  author  is  especially  indebted  to  Professor  Joseph  V. 
Breitwieser  of  the  University  of  California  for  his  sympathetic 
criticism  and  advice  during  the  progress  of  this  study.  It  was 
preceded  by  a  preliminary  study  of  twenty  other  superiors, 
which  has  been  briefly  reported  in  the  Journal  of  Educational 
Psychology  (1920).  Thanks  are  due  to  Professor  Warner  Brown, 
also  of  the  University  of  California,  for  direction  and  criticism 
of  the  first  investigation,  which  was  very  similar  in  plan  to  the 
present  one.  In  general,  the  latter  differs  in  being  much  more  com- 
plete and  thorough-going. 

Dr.  Virgil  E.  Dickson,  Director  of  the  Oakland  Department 
of  Research  and  Guidance,  made  both  studies  possible  through 
his  cooperation.  And  Professor  Terman  of  Stanford  University 
kindly  assisted  by  giving  his  advice  and  by  lending  some  unpub- 
lished comparative  data. 

D.  H.  Y. 

University  of  California, 
Berkeley,  California, 
May,  1921. 


EDITOR'S  INTRODUCTION 

It  is  becoming  a  commonplace  to  say  that  our  school  system 
fails  to  detect  and  to  furnish  adequate  training  for  the  capable 
child.  A  certain  doctrine,  fortifying  itself  with  the  name  of 
democracy,  shrinks  from  the  fundamental  fact  of  individual  dif- 
ferences and  deprecates  in  the  name  of  equality  anything  but  a 
uniform  treatment  of  school  children.  This  doctrine  is  false 
and  is  based  upon  a  faulty  conception  of  democracy.  The  evi- 
dence that  men  are  not  born  equal  is  conclusive.  If,  then,  the 
fact  of  differences — many,  varied,  and  wide — is  accepted  (as 
indeed  it  must  be  by  anyone  who  approaches  the  facts  with  an 
open  mind)  then  the  corrolary  that  training  should  be  different 
must  also  be  accepted.  Nor  does  this  acceptance  of  differentiated 
training  relate  solely  or  mainly  to  gifted  children.  "The  world's 
best  brains  fully  trained"  is  only  a  partial  program  which  should 
be  replaced  by  the  wider  program  "everybody's  brains  fully 
trained." 

In  this  monograph  the  author  brings  into  sharp  relief  the  super- 
ior child.  The  "Child  Study"  of  an  earlier  day,  under  the  influence 
of  the  tendency  to  specialization  which  is  so  generally  evident, 
has  been  broken  up  into  the  intensive  study  of  types  of  children; 
and  among  these  none  is  so  attractive  as  the  superior  type. 

Means  for  detecting  children  of  this  type  and  an  analysis 
of  their  characteristics  are  surely  important  educational  considera- 
tions. "To  do  justice  to  superiority  we  must  understand  it." 
The  reader  will  seek  and  find  in  the  following  treatment  a  better 
understanding  of  this  superiority.  Whether  it  will  enable  him  to- 
do  justice  to  superior  children  will  depend  upon  his  ability  to 
use  this  knowledge. 

At  any  rate,  there  is  no  virtue  in  ignorance.  There  are  gifted 
children  in  every  school  system.  The  author  takes  us  into  one  of 


these  systems  and  describes  in  minute  detail  the  sort  of  superioi 
children  she  found.  We  do  not  propose  in  this  introduction  tc 
anticipate  her  in  the  treatment  of  her  material. 

One  thing,  however,  stands  out  in  the  entire  discussion,  name- 
ly, the  all-around  superiority  of  the  capable  child  selected  on  the 
basis  of  intelligence  testing.  For  example,  according  to  the  data 
here  presented  the  superior  child  is  in  the  matter  of  interest 
always  at  an  advantage.  He  not  only  has  keener  and  more 
vitalizing  interests,  but  he  has  more  of  them.  Moreover,  he  makes 
greater  effort,  is  more  socially  adaptable,  and  possesses  higher 
qualities  of  leadership.  In  short,  he  is  superior. 

B.  R.  BUCKINGHAM,  Editor. 

April  30,  1922. 


CHAPTER  I 

INTRODUCTION 

Compared  with  the  extensive  literature  on  the  subject  of 
subnormal  intelligence  that  which  has  been  written  about  super- 
normal intelligence  seems  remarkably  scant.  The  latter  has 
commonly  been  discussed  in  three  typical  ways:  first,  in  treatises 
on  genius,  collectively  considered,  such  as  Galton's  Hereditary 
Genius  (3),1  Lombroso's  The  Man  of  Genius  (5),  and  Havelock 
Ellis'  British  Genius  (2) ;  second,  in  accounts  of  child  prodigies,  like 
Winifred  S  toner  (8),  Karl  Witte  (12),  and  William  James  Sidis 
(11);  and  third,  in  sporadic  short  articles  which  are  for  the  most 
part  pleas  for  the  bright  children  in  the  schools  (1).  Prodigies 
and  geniuses  appear  infrequently,  but  in  nearly  every  school 
there  are  some  pupils  who  are  decidedly  above  the  average  in  intel- 
ligence. Is  it  not  possible  that  these  bright  children  deserve  more 
attention  than  they  are  now  getting? 

Practically  nothing  has  been  done  for  exceptionally  intelligent 
pupils  except  in  some  cases  to  provide  a  more  flexible  system  of 
promotion.  In  1915  McDonald  (6)  gathered  information  on  this 
question  from  the  public  schools  of  this  country.  He  gives  a  list 
of  twenty-two  cities  that  reported  special  classes  for  exceptionally 
intelligent  children.  Two  years  later  Miss  Elizabeth  Woods  (13) 
found  that  forty-five  cities  had  classes  formed  of  superior  children 
only.  Whipple  (10)  and  Henry  (4)  consider  these  statements 
gross  overestimates;  for  upon  investigating  some  of  the  cases 
cited  by  McDonald,  they  learned  that  one  city  "only  occasionally 
promoted  individual  pupils;  one  had  a  room  for  dull  but  never 
for  bright  children;  one  had  a  'mixed'  room  for  both  dull  and 
gifted  (!);  and  two  gave  individual  coaching  to  pupils  who  were 
trying  for  special  promotions."  Miss  Woods  (13)  herself  com- 
plains that  the  so-called  "flexible  promotion,"  in  its  various 
forms,  was  imperfectly  developed  and  insufficiently  applied;  that 
"superior"  teachers  of  special  classes  were  almost  never  really 

1  Bibliographical  references  are  given  at  the  end  of  each  chapter. 


2  Study  of  Some  High  School  Seniors  of  Superior  Intelligence 

"superior";  and  that  they  devoted  their  time  to  the  dull  pupils 
rather  than  to  the  bright  ones. 

At  present  interest  in  the  bright  child  seems  to  be  increasing. 
There  are  even  a  few  evidences  of  the  systematic  study  of  groups 
of  superiors.  Whipple  (10)  has  investigated  (1919)  the  use  of 
mental  tests  in  the  selection  of  bright  children  for  special  classes. 
Henry  (4),  working  with  him,  has  developed  certain  conclusions 
with  regard  to  the  organization  and  conduct  of  such  classes. 
Terman  (9)  has  given  (1919)  a  detailed  report  of  a  highly  selected 
group  of  superiors.  We  need  just  such  careful  studies  as  these  if 
we  wish  to  educate  exceptional  children  intelligently.2 

Stern  (7)  says,  "We  must  not  content  ourselves  with  the  oft- 
heard  commonplace:  conspicuous  talent  succeeds  by  its  own 
strength.  .  .  .  After  all,  on  what  evidence  is  this  common  belief 
based?  We  know  only  those  talents  that  have  attained  success. 
There  is  no  book  of  epics  to  sing  of  potential  greatness  that  has 
failed  of  fruition."  Since  superior  intelligence  is  capable  of  such 
large  returns  to  society,  it  can  be  only  a  short-sighted  educational 
policy  that  devotes  its  best  efforts  entirely  to  the  understanding 
and  development  of  mediocre  or  subnormal  intelligence.  From 
a  purely  selfish  standpoint  it  is  to  the  advantage  of  all  of  us  to 
have  the  world's  best  brains  fully  trained.  Moreover,  it  is  unfair 
to  the  superior  child  not  to  give  him  opportunity  to  develop  his 
mental  powers  to  their  fullest  capacity. 

To  do  justice  to  superiority  we  must  understand  it.  The 
unsupported  generalities  and  vague  descriptions  of  various  earlier 
writers  must  give  place  to  accurate  and  specific  evidence.  The 
complex  nature  of  supernormal  intelligence  necessitates  com- 
prehensive and  detailed  preliminary  studies,  in  order  that  no 
important  factors  may  be  overlooked. 

REFERENCES 

(1)  Breitwieser,  J.  V.,  "The  Case  for  the  Gifted  Child,"    Colorado  School  Journal, 

28:  20-22,  April,  1913. 

(2)  Ellis,  H.  A.,  British  Genius,  London,  1904. 

(3)  Gallon,  F.,  Hereditary  Genius,  London,  1869. 

(4)  Henry,  T.  S.,  "Classroom  Problems  in  the  Education  of  Gifted  Children," 

National  Society  for  Study  of  Education,  19th  Year  Book,  Pt.  II.,  1920. 

2  Since  the  above  was  written  another  excellent  group-study  has  just  appeared, 
viz.,  "A  Socio-Psychological  Study  of  Fifty-three  Supernormal  Children,"  by  W.  T. 
Root  Psychological  Review  Monographs,  Vol.  29,  No.  4,  1921. 


Introduction  3 

(5)  Lombroso,  Cesare,  The  Man  of  Genius,  London,  1888. 

(6)  McDonald,  R.  A.  F.,  "Adjustment  of  School  Organization  to  Various  Population 

Groups,"  Teachers  College  Contributions  to  Education,  No.  75,  1915. 

(7)  Stern,  W.,  "The  Supernormal  Child,"  (trans.)  Journal  of  Educational  Psychology, 

2:  144,  March,  1911. 

(8)  Stoner,  W.  S.,  Natural  Education,  Indianapolis,  1914. 

(9)  Terman,  L.  M.,  The  Intelligence  of  School  Children,  New  York,  1919. 

(10)  Whipple,  G.  M.,  Classes  for  Gifted  Children,  Bloomington,  Illinois,  1919. 

(11)  Williams,  T.  A.,  "Comparison  between  John  Stuart  Mill  and  the  Son  of  Dr. 

Boris  Sidis,"  Pedagogical  Seminary,  18:  85-103,  March,  1911. 

(12)  Witte,  K.,  The  Education  of  Karl  Witte,  (trans.)  New  York,  1914. 

(13)  Woods,  E.  L.,  "Provision  for  the  Gifted  Child,"  Educational  Administration  and 

Supervision,  3:  139-149,  March,  1917. 


CHAPTER  II 

PURPOSE  AND  METHOD  OF  THIS  STUDY 

The  aim. — The  immediate  purpose  of  this  investigation  was 
to  study  intensively  a  group  of  young  persons  of  superior  intelli- 
gence in  order  to  determine  group  tendencies  with  regard  to  (1) 
heredity  and  home  conditions,  (2)  health  and  physical  develop- 
ment, (3)  mental  development  and  educational  progress,  and 
(4)  kind  and  number  of  interests.  The  final  aim  was  to  show  the 
pedagogical  conclusions  to  be  drawn  from  such  a  study.  High 
school  seniors,  rather  than  younger  pupils,  were  chosen  as  sub- 
jects for  various  reasons:  to  increase  the  probability  of  accuracy 
in  report;  to  obviate  the  possibility  of  having  a  mixed  group  of 
adolescents  and  pre-adolescents;  and  to  secure  mental  and 
physical  data  covering  the  entire  school  period.  An  earlier  study 
had  shown  that  Oakland,  California,  a  city  of  216,000,  with  a 
fairly  typical  population,  was  a  suitable  place  for  the  investiga- 
tion. 

The  method. — Briefly  the  plan  was  to  discover  the  twenty-five 
brightest  seniors  in  the  five  Oakland  high  schools  and  to  compare 
them  with  a  "  control"  group  of  twenty-five  seniors  of  average 
intelligence.  The  Army  Alpha  Test  and  the  Stanford  Group 
Test1  were  used  to  select  the  groups  because  these  tests  seemed 
the  best  ones  for  the  purpose  available  at  the  time.  As  the  prelimi- 
nary step  the  Army  Alpha  Test  was  given  by  the  writer  to  537 
pupils  during  March  and  April,  1920.  The  Otis  group  test 
(Oakland  edition)  had  already  been  given  in  February  to  127 
pupils  by  a  member  of  the  city  Department  of  Research  and 
Guidance.  The  total  number  tested,  664,  comprised  the  junior 
B,  or  "high"  junior  classes,  and  the  senior  A,  or  "low"  senior 

1  The  Stanford  Group  Test,  used  by  special  arrangement  with  Dr.  Terman,  is  the 
original  of  the  Terman  Group  Intelligence  Test,  which  appeared  later.  The  former 
contains  thirteen  tests,  but  Test  3,  Part  A,  and  Test  4,  Part  B,  have  not  been  included 
in  our  final  scoring  because  of  their  low  correlation  with  the  other  tests  and  with  school 
marks  and  teachers'  estimates  of  intelligence. 


Purpose  and  Method  of  this  Study  5 

classes,  i.e.,  those  who  would  make  up  the  upper  and  lower  senior 
classes  the  following  semester,  when  the  detailed  studies  of 
individuals  were  to  be  carried  on.  Both  "high"  and  "low"  grades 
were  included  in  order  to  have  a  larger  group  from  which  to  select. 
The  fifty  pupils  who  ranked  highest  in  these  first  tests,  and  seven- 
teen others  who  were  recommended  by  their  teachers  as  pupils 
of  exceptional  intelligence,  were  retested  during  May  and  June  by 
means  of  the  Stanford  Group  Test,  the  two  parts  of  which  were 
given  on  different  days.  To  determine  the  "control  group"  the 
same  test  was  also  given  to  fifty-four  whose  Army  Alpha  or  Otis 
scores  lay  at,  or  close  to,  the  medians.  With  the  Stanford  test 
the  time  allowance  was  so  generous  as  to  be  practically  unlimited 
for  a  fairly  quick  worker.  It  gave  opportunity,  therefore,  to  the 
slower  pupils. 

Before  the  Stanford  test  was  given  the  teachers  had  been 
asked  to  name  any  pupils  in  the  grades  under  consideration 
whom  they  regarded  as  unusually  bright.  The  list  thus  obtained 
was  helpful  in  various  ways.  It  reinforced  the  verdict  of  the  pre- 
liminary tests  because  it  included  most  of  those  excelling  therein. 
It  also  brought  to  light  four  promising  subjects  who  had  been 
absent  during  the  first  tests.2  And  lastly,  it  contained  the  names 
of  thirteen  whose  earlier  mental  ratings  lay  below  the  highest 
fifty.  When  these  students  were  retested  by  the  Stanford  test, 
only  one  (Number  25,  Table  I)  made  a  score  high  enough  to 
warrant  her  inclusion  in  the  group  of  the  twenty-five  brightest. 
As  might  be  supposed,  all  the  young  people  on  the  teachers'  list 
had  conspicuously  high  scholarship  records.  High-school  teachers 
often  have  little  time  or  opportunity  to  know  many  of  their  pupils 
well,  so  it  is  not  surprising  that  they  sometimes  mistake  school- 
room achievement,  due  largely  to  extraordinary  application,  for 
intellectual  superiority.  That  is  why  the  mental  test,  which  is 
impersonal  and  carefully  standardized,  was  taken  as  the  only 
basis  of  selection  in  this  study.  There  seemed  to  be  no  better 
criterion  for  the  purpose.  Not  that  we  wish  to  claim  too  much 
for  such  tests.  Doubtless  they  fail  to  give  evidence  of  some  phases 
of  intellectual  excellence.  However,  the  superior  pupils  selected 
certainly  rank  high  in  the  mental  abilities  that  the  tests  measure. 

2  Number  1  in  the  superior  group  (see  Table  I)  was  discovered  in  this  way. 


6  Study  of  Some  High  School  Seniors  of  Superior  Intelligence 

• 
The  groups  studied  consist,  then,  of  the  best  twenty-five,  and 

the  twenty-five  nearest  the  median,  selected  by  means  of  two 
group  tests,3  the  longer  of  which  was  administered  with  a  generous 
time  allotment.  Goddard  (1)  estimates  that  about  four  percent 
of  the  children  in  the  public  schools  are  so  superior  to  the  average 
child  as  to  demand  special  educational  opportunities.  Our  group 
of  twenty-five  superiors  is  a  little  less  than  four  percent  (3 . 8  per- 
cent) of  the  senior  class,  which  in  itself  is  a  highly  selected  group. 
It  should  be  added  that  four  subjects  whose  first  tests  indicated 
that  the  performers  would  probably  find  a  place  in  the  superior 
group,  could  not,  for  one  reason  or  another,  be  studied  further. 

When  the  personnel  of  the  superior  and  control  groups  had 
been  determined,  the  high-school  records  were  consulted  and  all 
available  data  gathered.  Besides  this,  as  many  teachers  as  pos- 
sible were  asked  to  give  their  estimate  of  each  pupil'.s  intelligence, 
and  to  rate  each  one  in  various  mental,  moral,  and  physical  traits. 
This  was  done  in  personal  conference  with  the  investigator. 

Next  a  questionnaire  dealing  primarily  with  interests  was  given 
to  every  young  person  individually  by  the  writer  herself.  At  the 
same  time  an  attempt  was  made  to  secure  the  pupil's  friendly 
cooperation.  Moreover,  it  was  stated  at  the  beginning  of  the 
questionnaire  that  the  investigator  would  be  willing  to  give  "a 
brief  analysis  of  your  mentality  and  indicate  the  kinds  of  work 
at  which  you  will  probably  best  succeed."  This  invitation  was 
intended  to  serve  somewhat  as  "bait."  Twelve  of  the  superior 
group  and  three  of  the  control  group  asked  for  interviews,  which, 
of  course,  furnished  an  excellent  opportunity  for  studying  the 
pupils  and  supplementing  or  correcting  data.  The  writer  also 
made  it  a  point  to  have  personal  talks  with  the  rest  of  the  young 
people,  either  in  their  own  homes  or  elsewhere.  For  the  most  part, 
the  superior  group  was  very  friendly  and  interested.  This  was 
less  true  of  the  control  group,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  any  sug- 
gestion of  their  lesser  ability  was  carefully  avoided.  Getting  back 
their  questionnaires  sometimes  proved  an  arduous  task.  In  the 
end,  however,  remarkably  complete  data  were  obtained  from  both 
groups,  and  the  writer  is  much  indebted  to  her  fifty  young  friends 
— for  such  they  became — for  their  careful  and  detailed  replies. 

3  See  Chapter  III  for  one  partial  exception. 


Purpose  and  Method  of  this  Study  7 

Thanks  are  also  due  to  the  parents  for  their  candid  and 
courteous  response  to  an  appeal  for  a  great  deal  of  information. 
During  home  visits  that  lasted  two  or  three  hours  or  more,  the 
writer  filled  out  special  blanks  calling  for  information  as  to  the 
immediate  family  and  ancestry,  the  young  person's  physical 
development  and  health,  mental  development  and  educational 
history,  his  interests,  traits,  and  special  abilities,  his  home  sur- 
roundings, duties,  or  other  occupations,  etc.,  etc.  The  present 
study  attempts  to  discuss  briefly  only  the  more  important  find- 
ings. Forty-seven  mothers,  nine  fathers,  and  one  foster-mother 
were  interviewed,  and  various  other  relatives  made  some  contribu- 
tions. One  mother,  who  was  out  of  town  for  a  protracted  stay, 
sent  a  complete  report  by  mail. 

No  case  was  retained  in  the  groups  as  they  finally  stood  unless 
full  and  satisfactory  data  were  obtainable.  Evidence  based  on 
specific  details  not  general  descriptive  terms  was  the  only  kind 
accepted.  There  were  written  records — in  the  form  of  "baby- 
books" — for  ten.  Most  of  the  parents  apparently  gave  unbiassed 
and  fairly  accurate  accounts.  Since  information  on  certain  points 
was  obtained  from  several  other  sources — e.g.,  from  teachers, 
school  records,  or  the  young  people  themselves — it  was  easy  to 
check  the  general  accuracy  of  parents'  reports.  In  this  way  two 
mothers  of  pupils  in  the  control  group  were  found  to  have  given 
rather  unreliable  testimony.  Where  this  affects  our  conclusions 
attention  will  be  called  to  the  matter.  The  parents  of  the  brighter 
pupils  were  almost  always  reluctant  to  stress  their  own  children's 
superiority.  The  tendency  seemed  to  be  to  underestimate  rather 
than  the  reverse. 

REFERENCE 

(1)  Goddard,  H.  H.,  "Two  Thousand  Children  Measured  by  the  Binet  Measuring 
Scale  of  Intelligence,"  Pedagogical  Seminary,  18:  232-259,  June,  1911. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  NATURE  OF  THE  TWO   GROUPS  SELECTED 

Mental-test  ratings. — Table  I  shows  that  only  one  of  the  seven- 
teen superiors  who  took  the  Army  test  scored  lower  than  156,  the 
highest  score  being  191.  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  greatest 
number  of  points  attainable  is  212,  from  135  points  to  212  being 
rated  class  A,  or  "very  superior,"  in  the  Surgeon  General's  report 
(6),  and  from  105  to  134,  class  B,  or  "superior."  Since  the  scores 
of  our  control  group  ranged  from  106  to  120  (see  Table  II),  even 
this  group  is  superior  with  respect  to  the  general  population.  The 
control  group  is  "average"  in  the  sense  ol  "average  for  high-school 
seniors."  The  median  score  of  the  537  given  the  Army  test  was 
found  to  be  119.  Those  just  below,  rather  than  above,  the 
median  were  chosen  for  retesting  by  the  Stanford  test,  because 
the  tendency  is  to  do  better  in  a  test  with  a  wide  time  limit. 

The  intention  had  been  to  give  all  the  pupils  the  Army  test, 
but  crowded  conditions  in  the  schools  prevented  further  large- 
group  testing.  The  Otis  test  (Oakland  edition),  which  had  already 
been  given  to  127  "low"  seniors,  is  so  similar  as  to  be  quite 
satisfactorily  evaluated  in  terms  of  the  Army  test.  Since,  however, 
the  latter  differs  in  having  more  "spread"  in  the  upper  part  of  the 
scale,  it  differentiates  superiority  more  sharply.  The  Otis  test 
ratings  of  the  eight  who  were  included  in  the  superior  group 
ranged  from  149  to  163  (out  of  a  possible  172)  points.  The  five 
pupils  finally  selected  for  the  control  group  had  scores  ranging 
from  108  to  1 15.  The  scores  of  these  five  pupils  may  be  compared 
with  a  median  of  116  which  was  available  from  previous  testing. 

In  the  Stanford  test  the  range  for  the  superior  group  was  from 
302  to  346  (out  of  366),  the  scores  being  fairly  evenly  distributed 
between  these  points.  The  pupils  are  listed  in  the  order  of  their 
rank  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest,  on  the  basis  of  the  total  num- 
ber of  points  gained  in  both  tests  (i.e.,  in  the  Army  or  Otis  on  the 
one  hand  and  in  the  Stanford  on  the  other  hand).  A  method 
of  ranking  depending  simply  on  the  addition  of  the  two  scores  is, 


Nature  of  the  two  Groups  Selected 


of  course,  rather  crude,  and  must  not  be  taken  too  seriously.    For 
instance,  very  high  achievement  at  one  time  might  be  preceded  or 

TABLE  I.      SUPERIOR  GROUP:   MENTAL-TEST  RATINGS,  HIGH-SCHOOL 
MARKS,  AND  TEACHERS'  ESTIMATES  OF  INTELLIGENCE 

(Girls'  numbers  are  printed  with  an  *  following) 


PUPIL'S 

NUMBER 

SENIOR 
GRADE 

ARMY 
ALPHA 
TEST 

OTIS 
GROUP 
TEST 

STAN- 
FORD 
GROUP 
TEST 

AVERAGE 
OF  HIGH- 
SCHOOL 
MARKS 

TEACHERS' 
ESTIMATE 
OF  INTEL- 
LIGENCE 

COURSE 

1 

2 

A 
B 

191 

155 

333 
346 

1- 

2+ 

1 

1- 

College  Prep. 

U                      (( 

3 
4 

5 

B 
B 
A 

172 

163 
149 

337 
341 
337 

1- 

2+ 

1- 
1- 
1- 

«               (1 

6 

A 

171 

335 

2+ 

, 

7 

A 

178 

319 

2  — 

2 

1C                       « 

8* 

A 

165 

330 

1 

1 

a              « 

9* 

B 

173 

321 

1 

it              u 

10 

A 

158 

327 

1 

1 

n              « 

11 
12 

A 
B 

166 

157 

327 
325 

1- 
2  — 

1- 

2- 

((              « 

13 

B 

149 

333 

2  

3+ 

«              « 

14* 

A 

167 

2- 

2 

«              « 

15* 

A 

172 

312  ' 

24- 

2 

General 

16* 
17 

A 
B 

160 

148 

321 
321 

2+ 
2  — 

2 
1  — 

a 

Normal  Prep* 
College  Prep. 

18 

B 

156 

321 

2 

24- 

19 

20* 

A 
A 

166 
160 



310 
313 

2 

24- 

2 
1 

"        " 

21* 

B 

153 

310 

2 

2 

Ct                 C( 

22* 

A 

168 

30414 

24- 

«       (( 

23 
24* 
25* 

B 
A 
A 

168 
163 
123 



302 
306 

327 

1- 

2+ 
1 

1- 
2- 
1 

Commercial 
College  Prep. 

a  This  girl  intends  to  go  to  college  after  she  has  taught  a  while. 


10 


Study  of  Some  High  School  Seniors  of  Superior  Intelligence 


followed  by  an  almost  mediocre  showing  at  another,  because  of  ill 
health  or  some  unfavorable  condition.    Yet  the  total  score  would 

TABLE  II.      CONTROL  GROUP!   MENTAL-TEST  RATINGS,  HIGH-SCHOOL 
MARKS  AND  TEACHERS'  ESTIMATES  OF  INTELLIGENCE 

(Girl's  numbers  are  printed  with  an  *  following) 


PUPIL'S 

NUMBER 

SENIOR 
GRADE 

ARMY 
ALPHA 
TEST 

OTIS 

GROUP 
TEST 

STAN- 
FORD 
GROUP 
TEST 

AVERAGE 
OF  HIGH- 
SCHOOL 
MARKS 

TEACHERS' 
ESTIMATE 
OF  INTEL- 
LIGENCE 

COURSE 

26 

A 

120 

252 

2- 

2- 

College  Prep. 

27 

A 

116 

252 

2- 

2 

«          « 

28 

A 

119 

248 

3  — 

4 

«          « 

29* 

A 

118 

247 

2- 

2 

General 

30* 

A 

119 

245 

2+ 

3+ 

College  Prep. 

31 

A 

116 

246^ 

3+ 

3  — 

««          « 

32 
33 

A 
B 

109 

108 

251 

248 

2 

3+ 

3+ 
3 

tt          if 
General 

34* 

A 

119 

239^ 

3+ 

3 

u 

35* 

A 

118 

238 

2- 

2  — 

« 

36* 

B 

116 

239>£ 

2+ 

2—      x 

College  Prep. 

37 

A 

120 

232 

2- 

2- 

«          a 

38 

B 

115 

a 

3- 

3- 

General 

39 

A 

117 

235 

3-f 

3 

College  Prep. 

40* 

A 

116 

235 

3 

3 

General 

41 

B 

114 

233^6 

3  + 

3 

College  Prep. 

42 
43* 
44* 

B 
B 
A 

106 
116 

114 

243 
232 
220^ 

3+ 
3- 
2+ 

3 
4+ 
2 

«          « 

General 
Commercial 

45 

A 

117 

218 

3+ 

3 

General 

46* 

A 

115 

217 

2- 

3+ 

College  Prep. 

47* 

A 

117 

213 

2  — 

2  — 

General 

48 

A 

107 

221^ 

3+ 

3- 

College  Prep. 

49 

A 

116 

201 

3+ 

3- 

General 

50 

B 

110 

188 

3+ 

3 

« 

a  This  boy's  total  score  cannot  be  given  because,  by  mistake,  he  took  two  forms 
of  the  first  part  of  the  test  instead  of  the  two  different  parts.  His  performance,  how- 
ever, was  average,  and  subsequent  data  justify  his  inclusion  in  the  group. 


Nature  of  the  two  Groups  Selected  1 1 

be  the  same  as  if  both  performances  were  only  moderately  high. 
The  principle  involved  was  helpful  in  selecting  some  members  of 
the  group.  Number  25  is  a  case  in  point.  She  hardly  scored  above 
the  median  in  the  first  test,  but  was  given  the  second  because  she 
was  recommended  by  her  teachers  as  being  very  bright.  In  a  small 
group,  with  every  effort  made  to  remove  feelings  of  stress  and 
strain,  she  not  only  made  a  score  exceeded  by  just  eight  in  the  city, 
but  also  proved  herself  a  very  fast  worker.  Number  7  is  another 
one  who  probably  deserves  a  higher  place  in  the  group.  He  had  the 
second  highest  score  in  the  first  test,  but  did  not  rank  so  well  in  one 
part  of  the  second.  Before  that  test  he  had  tried  to  be  excused 
because  of  a  headache.  It  should  also  be  pointed  out  that  ranking 
by  total  number  of  points  gained  gives  greater  weight  to  the  longer 
test,  which  had  the  wide  time  limit.  This  may,  or  may  not,  be  a 
desirable  thing  to  do.  Furthermore,  the  Otis  test  can  be  only 
roughly  evaluated  in  terms  of  the  Army  test  in  the  higher  points 
of  the  scale.  For  example,  it  is  practically  impossible  to  make 
distinctions  in  the  total  performance  of  the  first  three  or  four  sub- 
jects. For  these  reasons,  then,  we  may  be  sure  that  a  few  points 
difference  in  score  means  nothing.  It  would  be  hard  to  differen- 
tiate between  the  first  thirteen  at  least,  on  the  basis  of  their  tests. 

The  control  group  has  also  been  ranked  in  order  of  total 
achievement  in  the  tests.  This  arrangement  must  be  accepted 
with  the  same  caution  as  in  the  case  of  the  superior  group.  Table 
II  shows  that  the  range  for  the  Stanford  test  was  from  188  to  252. 
Terman's  median  for  pupils  of  the  same  grade  was  about  240.1 
Seventeen  of  our  group,  or  68  percent,  had  scores  between  252 
and  232,  while  seven  others  went  lower  than  this.  Nine  were 
above  240.  Speaking  generally,  the  control  group  is  quite  homo- 
geneous with  respect  to  mental  test  ratings.  All  proved  them- 
selves able  to  pass  at  least  the  first  test  close  to  the  median.  It  is 
immaterial  that  one  or  two  fell  well  below  the  median  in  the 
second,  because  the  intention  was  to  have  a  group  thoroughly 
distinct  in  calibre  from  the  superior  one. 

Proportion  of  "high"  and  "low"  seniors. — At  the  time  of  the 
tests  fifteen  of  the  superior  group  and  eighteen  of  the  control 
group  were  scheduled  to  go  into  the  senior  A  ("low")  grade  the 
following  semester,  as  is  indicated  in  Tables  I  and  II.  As  a  matter 

1  From  unpublished  data. 


12  Study  of  Some  High  School  Seniors  of  Superior  Intelligence 

of  fact,  five  of  these  superior  pupils,  by  carrying  extra  work,  made 
the  "high"  grade,  and  two  "high"  seniors  of  the  control  group 
failed  to  graduate.  This,  however,  does  not  concern  us  here. 
The  point  is  that  the  distribution  of  upper  and  lower  grade 
seniors  is  not  sufficiently  different  to  need  consideration.  That 
there  were  originally  fewer  "high"  seniors  than  "low"  seniors  in 
both  groups  was  doubtless  due  to  the  fact  that  the  "high"  senior 
class  was  smaller. 

Sex  differences. — It  is  apparent  from  Table  I  (in  which  girls' 
numbers  are  starred)  that  there  are  fifteen  boys  and  ten  girls 
in  the  superior  group.  It  will  also  be  noted  that  most  of  the  latter 
(eight  out  of  ten)  appear  in  the  second  half  of  the  list,  which  means 
that  the  girls'  standing  in  the  tests  was,  generally  speaking,  below 
that  of  the  boys.  Much  the  same  sex  differences  were  earlier 
discovered  by  the  writer  (5)  in  another  group  of  twenty  superiors 
and  by  Terman  (3)  in  a  younger  and  more  highly  selected  group  of 
eighty.  Just  what  conclusion  we  may  draw  is  not  altogether  clear. 
Is  there  here  an  indication  of  the  inferiority  of  the  female  sex 
in  "general  intelligence"?  Or  is  support  lent  to  the  theory  of 
greater  male  variability,  set  forth  by  such  men  as  Havelock  Ellis 
(1)  and  Thorndike  (4),  and  hotly  contested  by  Mrs.  Holling- 
worth  (2)?  Or  is  it  that  the  tests  are  better  adapted  to  masculine 
intellect,  training,  or  temperament? 

It  is  not  the  purpose  of  this  study  to  discuss  the  matter  at 
length.  In  the  first  place  there  are  hardly  sufficient  data  concern- 
ing groups  of  superiors.  And  in  the  second  place  the  differences 
noted  are  not  great.  Certainly  it  must  be  admitted  that  mental 
tests  are  man-made,  and  some  of  them  at  least  (the  Army  test, 
for  example)  are  generally  conceded  to  favor  the  male  sex.  As 
has  been  pointed  out,  the  ranking  of  our  group  is  rather  uncertain, 
and  difference  of  a  few  points  means  little.  It  may  well  indicate 
a  difference  in  training — more  housework,  less  experience  with 
the  world — or  a  disposition  to  become  "flustered"  under  test 
conditions,  a  state  of  mind  which  may  itself  be  partly  due  to 
training,  or  rather,  the  lack  of  it. 

The  control  group  has  the  same  proportion  of  girls  and  boys 
as  the  other  group  simply  because  it  was  thought  better  to  keep 
the  number  the  same  for  comparative  purposes. 


Nature  of  the  two  Groups  Selected  13 

High-school  marks. — It  is  interesting  to  compare  the  high- 
school  marks  with  the  mental- test  ratings  (see  Tables  I  and  II). 
The  school  records  were  not  entirely  uniform,  generally  because 
of  the  pupil's  transfer  from  another  city;  but  it  was  possible  from 
the  data  at  hand  to  accord  to  each  young  person  an  average  grade, 
which,  it  is  believed,  is  a  really  trustworthy  indication  of  his  status. 
All  marks  received  in  high  school  except  those  for  drawing,  music, 
and  physical  training  have  been  included  in  computing  averages. 
The  grades  1  (excellent),  2  (thoroughly  satisfactory),  3  (passed 
and  promo  table),  4  (failed  but  with  the  possibility  of  "making 
up"  the  work),  and  5  (complete  failure)  are  used  in  the  Oakland 
schools.  Plus  and  minus  signs  have  been  added  for  finer  discrimin- 
ations. 

Scrutiny  of  Tables  I,  II,  and  III  shows  that  none  of  the  supe- 
rior group  fell  below  2  —  ,  and  that  ten,  or  40  percent  were  I2  or 

1  — .    On  the  other  hand,  none  of  the  control  group  were  as  high 
as  1  or  1—,  and  fourteen,  or  56  percent,  were  3  -f  or  lower.    Fur- 
thermore, twenty- two  superiors,  i.e.,  nearly  90  percent  elected 
the  college  preparatory  course,  which  is  considered  more  difficult 
than  other  courses;  but  of  the  other  group  only  thirteen,  or  a 
little  more  than  half,  elected  this  harder  course.     The  school 
records  also  showed  that  there  were  sixteen  pupils  of  the  control 
group  who  had  failed  in  one  or  more  subjects  in  high  school. 
Number  38  had  failed  nine  times.     There  was  a  single  failure, 
due  to  absence  through  illness,  among  the  superiors.    The  three 
in  the  control  group  rated  3  —  have  left  school  without  graduating. 

There  is  also  some  agreement  between  total  score  in  the  tests 
and  school  standing.  Superior  pupils  graded  1  and  1  —  appear 
mostly  in  the  first  half  of  the  list.  The  same  tendency  is  apparent 
in  the  control  list  in  which  the  greater  number  of  2's,  2  — 's,  and 

2  +  's  are  in  the  upper  part.    There  is  no  clear  sex  difference  in 
the  superior  group,  but  the  girls  of  the  other  group  obviously 
surpass  the  boys  in  school  work.    Possibly,  as  has  been  suggested 
before,  girls  are  at  a  disadvantage  in  mental  tests.     Or  perhaps 
our  findings  merely  give  evidence  of  the  well-known  fact  that 
girls  generally  gain  better  school  marks  than  do  boys.    However, 
the  number  of  cases  in  point  is  too  small  to  warrant  discussion. 

2  An  average  mark  of  1  means  that  the  marks  obtained  were  very  nearly  all  1's. 


14 


Study  of  Some  High  School  Seniors  of  Superior  Intelligence 


Teachers1  estimates  of  intelligence. — In  obtaining  teachers' 
estimates  of  intelligence,  a  five-point  scale  was  again  used.  1 
was  taken  to  mean  "very  superior  to  the  average  pupil  of  the 
same  age";  2,  "superior  to  the  average  pupil"  etc.;  3,  "average"; 
4,  "inferior";  and  5,  "very  inferior."  This  scale,  which  is  much 
used  in  Terman's  work,  has  its  limitations,  for  the  five  gradations 
are  only  defined  in  terms  of  degree.  Nothing  better,  however,  has 
yet  been  devised  for  a  manifold  comparison.  The  number  of 
estimates  for  each  pupil  was  generally  three,  sometimes  as  many 
as  five  or  six.  It  was  explained  to  the  teachers  that  intelligence, 
not  simply  achievement  in  studies,  was  to  be  judged. 

TABLE  III.    DISTRIBUTION  OF  HIGH- SCHOOL  MARKS 


AVERAGE  OF  HIGH- 

SUPERIOR  GROUP 

CONTROL  GROUP 

SCHOOL  IMARKS 

Boys 

Girls 

Total 

Boys 

Girls 

Total 

1 

1 

2 

3 

0 

0 

0 

1- 

6 

1 

7 

0 

0 

0 

2+ 

2 

5 

7 

0 

3 

3 

2 

2 

1 

3 

1 

0 

1 

2- 

4 

1 

5 

3 

4 

7 

3+ 

0 

0 

0 

9 

1 

10 

3 

0 

0 

0 

0 

1 

1 

3- 

0 

0 

0 

2 

1 

3 

The  estimates  when  averaged  are  seen  (in  Tables  I  and  II)  to  be 
closely  similar  to  the  averages  of  school  marks.  Consequently, 
what  was  said  in  regard  to  the  latter  applies  largely  to  the  former. 
Tables  III  and  IV  make  it  clear  that  seventeen  young  people 
of  the  superior  group  were  2+  or  above  according  to  school 
marks,  and  sixteen  were  the  same  according  to  teachers'  esti- 
mates. This  means  that  64  percent  were  considered  decidedly 
superior  in  intelligence.  Only  one  pupil  had  an  average  estimate 
below  2  —  ,  i.e.,  all  were  thought  to  be  at  least  somewhat  superior 
except  this  one  boy,  who  was  estimated  a  high  average  (3-f). 
The  reader  is  invited  to  consult  the  Appendix,  for  a  description 
of  this  interesting  lad  (Number  13),  whose  teachers  complained 
that  he  did  not  "conform"  to  school  procedure.  Again,  none  of 
the  control  group  averaged  above  2  by  teachers'  estimates,  and 


Nature  of  the  two  Groups  Selected 


15 


seventeen  (nearly  70  percent)  averaged  3+  or  less,  as  against 
fourteen  who  were  3+  or  less  in  school  marks.  The  strong 
tendency  of  teachers  to  rate  mentality  by  achievement  in  school 
work,  was  more  than  ever  apparent  in  comparing  an  individual 
teacher's  estimate  of  a  pupil's  intelligence  with  the  school  mark 
given  by  that  teacher.  Mark  and  estimate  almost  always  coin- 
cided. 

Summary. — With  reference  to  the  nature  of  the  two  groups  the 
following  points  have  been  noted  especially: 

(1)  With  one  exception  the  range  of  scores  of  the  seventeen 
superior  pupils  selected  by  the  Army  test  was  from  156  to  191  (out 
of  a  possible  212  points).  For  the  eight  who  took  the  Otis  test, 
the  range  was  149  to  163  (out  of  172).  All  twenty-five  had  the 
Stanford  test,  their  ratings  varying  from  302  to  346  (out  of  366). 

TABLE  IV.    DISTRIBUTION  OF  TEACHERS'  ESTIMATES  OF 
INTELLIGENCE 


AVERAGE  OF 

SUPERIOR  GROUP 

CONTROL  GROUP 

MATES  OF  INTELLI- 

Boys 

Girls 

Total 

Boys 

Girls 

Total 

GENCE 

1 

2 

4 

6 

0 

0 

0 

1- 

7 

1 

8 

0 

0 

0 

2+ 

2 

0 

2 

0 

0 

0 

2 

2 

4 

6 

1 

2 

3 

2- 

1 

1 

2 

2 

3 

5 

3+ 

1 

0 

1 

1 

2 

3 

3 

0 

0 

0 

6 

2 

8 

3- 

0 

0 

0 

4 

0 

4 

4+ 

0 

0 

0 

.   0 

1 

1 

4 

0 

0 

0 

1 

0 

1 

(2)  Twenty  of  the  control  group  took  the  Army  test,  their 
scores  lying  between  106  and  120  (inclusive).  The  median  for 
the  city  was  119.  The  five  in  the  control  group  tested  by  the 
Otis  test  (median  116)  made  scores  ranging  from  108  to  115.  In 
the  Stanford  test  the  ratings  were  from  188  to  252,  most  of  them 
being  above  232.  A  representative  median  for  this  school  grade 
is  240. 


16  Study  of  Some  High  School  Seniors  of  Superior  Intelligence 

(3)  The  distribution  of  "high"  and  "low"  seniors  in  the  two 
groups  is  not  sufficiently  different  to  need  consideration. 

(4)  There  are  fifteen  boys  and  ten  girls  in  the  superior  group. 
The  same  proportion  was  kept  in  choosing  the  control  group. 

(5)  A  comparison  of  mental-test  ratings  with  school  marks 
and  with  teachers'  estimates  of  intelligence  shows  fairly  close 
agreement.    Teachers'  marks  and  estimates  were  very  similar. 

REFERENCES 

(1)  Ellis,  H.  A.,  Man  and  Woman,  London,  1894. 

(2)  Hollingworth,  L.  S.,  (Mrs.)  Chapter  in  H.  L.  Hollingworth's  Vocational  Psychology 

New  York,  1916. 

(3)  Terman,  L.  M.,  The  Intelligence  of  School  Children,  New  York,  1919,  p.  164  ff. 

(4)  Thorndike,  E.  L.,  Educational  Psychology,  New  York,  1914,  Vol.  3,  p.  169  ff. 

(5)  Yates,  D.  H.,  "A  Study  of  Twenty  High  School  Seniors  of  Superior  Intelligence," 

Journal  of  Educational  Psychology,  11:264-274,  May- June,  1920. 

(6)  Yoakum,  C.  S.,  and  Yerkes,  R.  M.,  Army  Mental  Tests,  New  York,  1920,  p.  17  ff. 


CHAPTER  IV 

NATIVITY,  HOME  CONDITIONS,  AND  RELATIVES 

Nativity. — All  the  pupils  of  both  groups  were  born  in  the 
United  States.  It  should  be  noted,  however,  that  in  selecting 
the  control  group  three  foreign-born  pupils  were  rejected  after 
the  first  test,  on  the  ground  that  mental  tests  in  an  ill-understood 
tongue  are  no  criterion  of  intelligence.  All  the  pupils  belong  to 
the  white  race.  Numbers  4,  24,  and  48  are  Jews.  The  nativity 
of  parents  is  shown  in  Table  V. 

TABLE  V.    THE  NATIVITY  OF  PARENTS 


FATHERS 

MOTHERS 

BOTH  PARENTS 

Number 

Percent 

Number 

Percent 

Number 

Percent 

SUPERIOR  GROUP 
Native-born 

•  18 

7 

21 
4 

'72 
28 

84 
16 

18 

7 

22 
3 

72 
28 

88 
12 

16 

5 

20 

2 

64 
20 

80 

8 

Foreign-born  

CONTROL  GROUP 
Native-born  
Foreign-born  

The  superior  pupils  are  less  "American"  as  to  parentage 
than  the  duller  group.  This  distinction  is  a  good  deal  less  pro- 
nounced in  the  third  generation  back,  however.  In  the  case  of 
the  superior  group  48  percent  of  the  grandparents  were  native- 
born;  in  the  other  case,  53  percent.  In  the  writer's  earlier  study 
of  twenty  superiors  (5)  the  situation  was  reversed,  there  being 
a  somewhat  larger  proportion  of  native-born  parents  and  grand- 
parents for  the  brighter  group  than  for  the  control  group.  In 
the  present  study  there  are  seven  cases  (28  percent)  in  each 
group  of  three  generations  of  native-born.  The  foreign  countries 
represented  are  largely  north  European. 


17 


18 


Study  of  Some  High  School  Seniors  of  Superior  Intelligence 


Occupations  of  fathers. — An  attempt  was  made  to  classify 
the  occupations  of  the  fathers  according  to  Taussig's  scheme  (2). 
In  this,  Group  1  consists  of  day-laborers,  so-called,  and  other 
unskilled  workers;  Group  2  is  made  up  of  " those  who  while  not 
needing  specialized  skill,  yet  bear  some  responsibility,  and  must 
have  some  alertness  of  mind  .  .  .  for  example,  motormen"; 
Group  3  includes  the  skilled  workmen,  "the  aristocracy  of  the 
manual  laboring  class";  Group  4  comprises  small  tradesmen, 
clerks,  foremen,  etc.;  and  Group  5  is  the  professional  class, 
"captains  of  industry,"  and  the  like.  Table  VI  shows  the  distribu- 
tion, according  to  this  classification,  of  the  occupations  of  the 
fathers. 

TABLE  VI.  OCCUPATIONAL  GROUPS  OF  FATHERS 


OCCUPATIONAL 

SUPERIOR  GROUP 

CONTROL  GROUP 

GROUP. 

5 

8 

8 

4 

10 

6 

3 

7 

8 

2 

0 

3 

1 

0 

0 

On  the  basis  of  Taussig's  formula  for  rating  social  status  by 
occupation  of  the  father,  our  superior  group  ranks  slightly  higher. 
But  the  difference  is  certainly  not  great.  Neither  group  is 
represented  in  the  day-laborer  class  (Group  1),  and  none  of  the 
fathers  of  superior  pupils  is  lower  than  the  skilled-workman  class 
(Group  3). 

Home  conditions. — Merely  to  know  the  occupation  of  the 
father  does  not,  however,  give  one  an  adequate  conception  of 
home  conditions.1  Hence,  the  Whittier  scale  for  grading  home 
conditions  (3)  was  used,  this  being  probably  the  most  compre- 
hensive and  successful  standard  for  the  purpose.  Its  originator, 
Dr.  J.  Harold  Williams,  says  in  part:  "Data  with  reference  to 
each  of  five  items,  (I)  necessities,  (II)  neatness,  (III)  size,  (IV) 
parental  conditions,  and  (V)  parental  supervision  .  .  .  being 
recorded  in  the  record  blank  ,  .  each  item  is  then  accorded  a 


In  fact,  a  number  of  the  fathers  were  dead  or  divorced,  as  will  be  shown  later. 


Nativity,  Home  Conditions,  and  Relatives  19 

grade  upon  a  scale  of  five  points,  following  the  classified  items 
shown  on  the  standard  score  sheet.  .  .  .  The  sum  of  the  grades 
of  the  individual  items  gives  the  total  score,  or  'Home  Index,' 
which  is  the  final  value  used  for  comparative  purposes. "(4) 
Under  the  head  of  "necessities"  the  field-worker  is  to  record 
information  relating  to  ordinary  economic  needs  (probable  income, 
food  and  clothing,  shelter,  furnishings,  and  comforts)  as  judged 
by  inspection  of  the  home  and  conversation  with  members  of 
the  family.  "Neatness"  includes  order  and  cleanliness  within 
and  without  the  dwelling.  "Size"  is,  of  course,  in  proportion  to 
the  number  of  persons  living  in  the  home.  "Parental  conditions" 
are  discussed  with  regard  to  intelligence  and  harmony  of  parents 
or  guardians,  and  as  to  whether  they  are  separated,  divorced, 
dead,  or  much  absent  from  the  home  because  of  employment. 
Lastly,  "  'parental  supervision'  refers  to  the  manner  in  which 
parents  exercise  their  authority  and  with  what  result;  the  extent 
of  this  supervision,  and  how  much  interest  is  behind  it.  "(3) 

In  illustration  of  the  general  method,  what  Doctor  Williams 
says  in  reference  to  "necessities"  may  be  quoted:  "In  grading 
this  item  on  a  scale  of  five  points,  1  is  used  to  indicate  very  inferior 
equipment,  i.e.,  less  than  could  be  considered  really  necessary  to 
a  decent  existence.  Grade  0  represents  a  condition  of  extreme 
poverty.  Grade  3.  indicates  that  there  may  be  no  hardship,  but 
no  more  than  necessities  were  found.  Grades  4  and  5  (in  a  few 
cases  Grade  6  is  used)  indicate  a  superior  condition  of  necessities, 
i.e.,  more  (or  of  a  better  quality)  than  can  be  considered  essential." 
(4)  The  varying  degrees  for  each  item  are  represented  on  the 
Standard  Score  Sheet. 

When  the  homes  of  our  fifty  subjects  were  graded  in  accord- 
ance with  this  plan  the  total  scores,  or  "Home  Indices,"  were 
found  to  be  as  in  Table  VII.  The  range  is  from  18  to  26  in  both 
groups;  the  median  is  24  for  both;  and  the  averages  are  almost 
identical,  viz.,  22.96  for  the  superiors  and  23.40  for  the  other 
group.  In  the  writer's  earlier  study  the  range  for  twenty  superiors 
was  found  to  be  from  19  to  26,  with  the  median  at  23;  no  figures 
were  obtained  for  a  control  group.  These  findings  are  in  sharp 
contrast  to  those  given  in  Doctor  William's  study  (4)  of  120 
homes  of  delinquent  boys.  He  found  a  range  of  5  to  25,  with  a 
median  of  15.  He  also  tells  of  another  investigation  of  "fifty 


20 


Study  of  Some  High  School  Seniors  of  Superior  Intelligence 


homes  taken  from  the  non-delinquent  population  .  .  .  largely 
homes  of  business  men,  laborers,  tradesmen,  and  college  profes- 
sors." Of  these  homes  he  says,  "While  not  selected  with  sufficient 
exactness  to  represent  an  average  for  the  general  population,  the 
results  are  of  sufficient  consequence  to  mention."  His  figures  for 
these  fifty  homes  show  home  indices  ranging  from  4  to  26,  with  a 
median  at  22.  These  comparisons  demonstrate  the  thorough 
adequacy  of  the  homes  of  both  our  superior  and  control  groups. 
All  high-school  seniors  belong,  of  course,  to  a  highly  selected 
group  for  the  population  in  general. 

TABLE  VII.    DISTRIBUTION  OF  HOME  INDICES 


NUMBER  OF 

NUMBER  OF 

HOME  INDEX 

CASES  IN  SU- 

CASES IN  CON- 

PERIOR GROUP 

TROL  GROUP 

26 

3 

1 

25 

5 

7 

24 

5 

6 

23 

1 

4 

22 

6 

4 

21 

0 

2 

20 

2 

0 

19 

2 

0 

18 

1 

1 

Details  concerning  the  home  conditions  of  both  groups  of 
pupils  may  be  gathered  from  Table  VIII  on  the  opposite  page. 
For  both  groups  the  medians  fall  at  5  for  every  item  except 
"parental  supervision,"  where  it  falls  at  4.  The  differences  between 
the  groups  are  seen  to  be  small.  With  respect  to  "necessities" 
and  "size,"  where  one  would  naturally  expect  to  find  correlation, 
the  advantage  is  with  the  control  group.  In  fact,  three  pupils  of 
this  group  came  from  the  wealthiest  homes  visited,  one  of  them 
being  that  of  a  junk  dealer!  The  last  item,  "parental  supervision," 
is  a  little  higher  for  the  superior  group.  It  would  be  higher  still 
(and  "parental  conditions"  along  with  it),  but  for  the  greater 
proportion  of  "broken"  homes  among  the  superiors.  In  the 
control  group  there  are  only  four  broken  homes  (16  percent),  all 
due  to  the  death  of  one  parent  (three  fathers  and  one  mother); 


Nativity,  Home  Conditions,  and  Relatives 


21 


but  in  the  superior  group  there  are  twice  as  many  broken  homes, 
four  due  to  the  death  of  one  parent  (three  fathers,  one  mother), 
one  to  the  death  of  both  parents,2  and  three  because  the  mother 
divorced  the  father.3  The  parents  in  still  another  home  were 

TABLE  VIII.     RATING  OF  HOMES  IN  DETAIL 


ITEMS 

NUMBER  OF  HOMES  RECEIVING  THE  IN- 
DICATED NUMBER  OF  ITEM  POINTS* 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

NECESSITIES 
Superior  group  

0 
0 

0 
0 

0 
0 

0 
0 

0 
0 

0 
0 

0 
0 

0 
0 

0 
0 

0 
0 

4 
0 

0 
0 

5 
0 

4 
1 

1 

3 

7 
9 

2 
3 

3 

7 

3 

7 

12 
12 

13 
13 

23 

22 

16 
15 

18 
17 

10 
10 

1 
3 

0 
0 

1 
3 

0 
0 

2 
0 

Control  group  

NEATNESS 
Superior  group  

Control  group  

SIZE 
Superior  group  

Control  group  

PARENTAL  CONDITIONS 
Superior  group  

Control  group  

PARENTAL  SUPERVISION 
Superior  group 

Control  group  

&  Figures  in  italics  show  where  medians  fall. 

separated  for  several  years  at  an  earlier  period.  The  greater  num- 
ber of  broken  homes  in  the  case  of  the  superiors  accounts  in  part 
for  the  fact  that  the  mothers  in  this  group  have  had  considerably 
more  paid  employment  than  those  of  the  other  group.  Eighteen 
(72  percent)  of  the  former,  as  against  nine  (36  percent)  of  the 
latter,  have  been  employed  outside  the  home,  either  before  or 
after  marriage.  At  present,  however,  there  are  only  six  among  the 

2  The  child  in  question  is  the  son  of  a  college  professor.    His  foster-mother  has 
carefully  preserved  written  records  of  his  early  history  and  of  his  parents,  both  of 
whom  died  in  her  home. 

3  One  father  "drank";  another  "ran  around  with  other  women."    The  cause  of 
the  third  divorce  is  unknown.    Information  of  such  an  intimate  nature  was  never 
solicited. 


22 


Study  of  Some  High  School  Seniors  of  Superior  Intelligence 


mothers  in  the  superior  group,4  and  two  among  the  others,5  who 
are  employed. 

In  some  respects,  certainly,  life  has  been  less  easy  for  the 
superior  pupils  as  a  group ;  and  their  parents  have  been  more  often 
absent  from  the  home.  Their  mothers  have  sometimes  shown 
remarkable  intelligence  and  grit.  For  example,  one  divorced 
woman,  who  remarried  when  her  children  were  one  and  three 
years  of  age,  respectively,  has  for  years  done  all  her  housework, 
cared  for  the  children,  and  yet  earned  enough  for  their  support, 
because  she  "never  wished  it  thrown  in  their  faces  that  they  were 
supported  by  a  step-father."  It  is  in  such  qualities  as  atmosphere 
of  work  and  love  of  independence — qualities  not  readily  expressed 
in  terms  of  a  scale — that  the  homes  of  the  superior  young  people 
seem  to  excel. 

Education  of  parents. — The  question  of  the  amount  of  formal 
education  of  parents  is  necessarily  involved  in  an  adequate  dis- 
cussion of  home  conditions.  Table  IX  will  show  how  many  par- 
ents completed,  or  nearly  completed,  a  specified  type  of  schooling. 

TABLE  IX.  EDUCATION  OF  PARENTS 


TYPE  OF  EDUCATION 

GROUP 

FATHERS 

MOTHERS 

TOTAL 

BOTH 
PARENTS 

POST  GRADUATE  

Superior 

1 

0 

1 

0 

COLLEGE  

Control 
Superior 

.1 
6 

0 
2 

1 
8 

0 
2 

NORMAL  SCHOOL  

Control 
Superior 

4 
1 

2 
2 

6 

3 

0 
1 

HIGH  SCHOOL 

Control 
Superior 

0 
3 

3 

7 

3 
10 

0 
1 

GRAMMAR  SCHOOL  AND 
BUSINESS  COLLEGE  
GRAMMAR  SCHOOL 

Control 
Superior 
Control 
Superior 

5 
6 
2 
8 

7 
2 
1 
12 

12 
8 
3 
20 

1 

1 
0 

8 

Control 

13 

12 

25 

8 

The  most  striking  thing  apparent  from  Table  IX  is  the  small 
amount  of  difference  between  the  two  groups.    If  we  draw  a  line 

4  Two  saleswomen,  one  nurse,  one  charity  worker,  one  dressmaker,  and  one 
upholstress. 

6  Two  saleswomen. 


Nativity,  Home  Conditions,  and  Relatives  23 

between  "high  school' '  and  "grammar  school  and  business  college" 
in  the  table,  we  find  precisely  the  same  totals  for  each  group  above 
and  below  the  line,  i.e.,  twenty- two  (44  percent)  in  each  had  at 
least  a  high-school  education.  Some  slight  differences,  however, 
show  superiority  in  training  for  the  superior  group.  There  are  two 
more  fathers  in  this  group  who  have  gone  to  college,  although 
there  are  two  less  with  only  a  high-school  education.  Again,  eight 
parents  of  the  superior  group  are  in  the  "grammar-school-and- 
business-college"  classification,  but  only  three  of  the  control 
group  belong  here.  There  are  three  cases  among  the  former  of 
both  parents  having  a  college  or  normal-school  education,  but 
none  among  the  latter. 

That  the  parents  of  the  brighter  pupils  are,  generally  speaking, 
superior  intellectually  to  the  other  group  of  parents  is  hardly 
evident  on  a  basis  of  educational  accomplishment.  In  the  absence 
of  scientific  knowledge  the  writer  can  only  say,  as  a  matter  of 
opinion,  that  the  "superior"  parents  actually  do  seem  somewhat 
superior  in  intelligence.  Three  "superior"  mothers  taught  in  the 
grades  before  marriage,  and  another,  a  former  high-school  teacher, 
has  long  been  very  prominent  in  civic  work.  There  are  only  two 
in  the  other  group  who  have  been  teachers  (one  a  grade  teacher 
and  the  other  a  kindergartener),  and  certainly  no  woman  of  civic 
prominence.  But  to  discuss  all  the  occupations  of  the  mothers 
would  take  us  too  far  afield.  "Interesting"  and  "unusual"  are 
adjectives  one  could  scarcely  refrain  from  applying  to  many  of  the 
"superior"  mothers  and  their  varied  employments.  The  writer 
has  not  the  same  impression  of  the  other  group.  As  regards  the 
occupational  status  of  the  fathers,  it  has  already  been  noted  that, 
by  Taussig's  scale,  the  superior  group  ranks  slightly  higher. 

Brothers  and  sisters. — It  is  sometimes  contended  that  "only" 
children  are  given  greater  attention  than  others,  and  that  hence 
their  ability  is  better  developed.  Since  there  are  five  "only" 
children  in  both  of  our  groups,  no  advantage  for  either  can  be 
argued  on  this  ground.  On  the  other  hand,  four  of  the  mothers 
(three  in  the  superior  group,  one  the  control)  have  long  been 
widows  dependent  on  themselves  for  support,  and  so  have  been 
less  able  to  give  time  to  their  children.  When  there  was  more 
than  one  child  in  the  family  the  mother  was  asked  whether  or  not 
she  considered  the  boy  or  girl  in  question  brighter  than  her  other 


24  Study  of  Some  High  School  Seniors  of  Superior  Intelligence 

children.  Eight  mothers  found  little  difference  in  degree  of  intelli- 
gence, though  they  often  added  qualifying  statements  about  other 
members  of  the  family  such  as,  "just  as  bright  but  not  so  stu- 
dious," "as  bright  but  in  a  different  way."  Twelve  mothers 
thought  at  least  one  other  of  their  children  less  intelligent.  There 
are  no  data  by  which  to  verify  their  statements. 

Heredity. — Many  questions  were  asked  concerning  the  intelli- 
gence of  other  relatives  besides  those  in  the  immediate  family. 
The  parents  seemed  entirely  willing  to  give  such  information, 
but  were  often  not  welHnformed  themselves  in  the  matter,  for  the 
"family  tree"  and  "ancestors"  are  deemed  unimportant  in  this 
region  of  the  country.  The  answers  obtained  are  not  complete 
enough  for  statistical  treatment.  However,  from  the  data  secured 
the  writer  has  attempted  to  rate  the  family  connection  in  genera] 
intelligence,  as  very  superior,  superior,  average,  inferior,  or  very 
inferior,  to  the  population  at  large.  It  is  obvious  that  this  can  be 
only  a  very  rough  estimate,  merely  offered  in  lieu  of  nothing 
better.  Conclusions  were  based  especially  on  occupation,  educa- 
tion, achievements,  and  prominence  in  the  community.  Were 
there  any  noteworthy  relatives?  What,  if  any,  .occupations  or 
professions  were  especially  characteristic  of  both  sides  of  the 
family?  Did  any  relatives  have  any  special  talents  or  achieve  any 
particular  successes?  These  were  some  of  the  questions  asked. 
It  was  easy  to  gauge  the  general  accuracy  of  parents'  accounts 
from  details  given.  According  to  the  writer's  estimates  eighteen, 
or  nearly  three-fourths,  of  the  superior  group  and  twelve,  or  nearly 
one-half,  of  the  control  group  have  a  family  connection  superior 
in  intelligence  to  the  general  population,  i.e.,  the  usual  type 
of  mind  is  above  that  of  a  skilled  workman  or  his  kind.6  All  the 
rest  are  probably  average.  Just  how  many  of  those  rated  superior 
might  better  be  considered  very  superior  is  a  more  difficult 
question — possibly  four  (16  percent)  in  the  superior  group  and  one 
.or  two  in  the  control  group.  Fewer  eminent  relatives  were 
mentioned  for  the  latter.  It  is  quite  unlikely  that  the  heredity  of 
either  group  is  very  remarkable,  i.e.,  of  such  an  order  as  Galton 
discusses  in  Hereditary  Genius  (1). 

6  Note  that  Taussig  places  skilled  workmen  in  the  middle  occupational  group. 
See  pp.  134-138,  Vol.  2,  in  Taussig's  Principles  of  Economics,  New  York,  1915. 


Nativity,  Home,  Conditions,  and  Relatives  25 

Summary. — The  information  concerning  nativity,  home  condi- 
tions, and  relatives  may  be  summarized  as  follows: 

(1)  All  the  pupils  of  both  groups  are  native-born  whites. 

(2)  Seventy- two  percent  of  the  parents  of  the  superiors  are 
native-born,  and  86  percent  of  the  parents  of  the  other  young 
people.     For  both  groups  approximately  half  the  grandparents 
were  native-born,  there  being  a  slightly  greater  number  of  foreign- 
born  "superior"  grandparents. 

(3)  According  to  Taussig's  formula  for  rating  social  status  by 
occupation  of  the  father,  the  superior  group  ranks  a  little  higher. 

(4)  Using  the  Whittier  scale  for  grading  home  conditions  we 
find  practically  no  difference  in  central  tendency  between  the 
two  groups,  considering  the  home  environment  in  its  total  aspect. 
Both  groups  of  homes  doubtless  rank  high  for  the  general  popula- 
tion.   Taken  collectively,  the  homes  of  the  control  group  excel  the 
others  somewhat  in  material  possessions;  but  in  the  homes  of  the 
superiors  parental  supervision  is  slightly  better.    In  fact,  it  would 
be  rated  still  higher  if  there  were  not  twice  as  many  broken  homes 
among  the  superiors  as  in  the  other  group.    From  interviews  with 
the  parents  (chiefly  mothers)  and  from  occupational  data  the 
writer  has  gained  an  impression  that  the  "superior"  parents  are 
rather  superior  intellectually  to  the  others.     On  the  whole,  the 
education  of  the  former  has  been  only  a  trifle  better  than  that  of 
the  latter. 

(5)  Five  young  people  in  each  group  are  "only"  children. 

(6)  From  rather  incomplete  data  the  writer  estimates  that 
nearly  three-fourths  of  the  superior  pupils  and  nearly  one-half 
the  other  group  have  a  superior  heredity,  i.e.,  the  family  connec- 
tion is  probably  superior  in  intelligence  to  the  general  population. 
It  might  be  considered  very  superior  in  perhaps  four  cases  of  the 
superior  group  and  in  one  or  two  of  the  other.    There  are  no  cases 
of  a  mentally  inferior  stock. 

REFERENCES 

(1)  Gallon,  F.,  Hereditary  Genius,  London,  1869. 

(2)  Taussig,  F.  W.,  Principles  of  Economics,  New  York,  1915,  Vol.  2,  pp.  134-137. 

(3)  Williams,  J.  Harold,  "A  Guide  to  the  Grading  of  Homes,"  Whittier  State  School 

Bulletin  No.  7,  Whittier,  California,  1918. 

(4)  Williams,  J.  Harold,  "Whittier  Scale  for  Grading  Home  Conditions,"  Journal  of 

Delinquency,  1:273-286,  Sept.  1916. 

(5)  Yates,  D.H.,  "A  Study  of  Twenty  High  School  Seniors  of  Superior  Intelligence," 

Journal  of  Educational  Psychology,  11:264-74,  May- June,  1920. 


CHAPTER  V 

HEALTH  AND  PHYSICAL  DEVELOPMENT 

Health  during  infancy. — The  mothers  were  asked  whether  the 
child's  health  during  infancy  (which  was  denned  as  the  first  two 
years)  was  very  good  (1),  good  (2),  fair  (3),  poor  (4),  or  very  poor 
(5).  Nineteen,  or  76  percent,  of  each  group  of  children  were 
reported  to  have  been  in  very  good  (1)  health  in  babyhood.  In 
fact,  only  one  among  our  fifty  cases,  a  boy  in  the  control  group, 
had  been  very  sickly.  This  excellent  record  may  be  in  great 
measure  due  to  the  large  proportion  of  children  native  to  the 
western  coast,  where  climatic  conditions  are  particularly  favorable 
to  infants  and  nursing  mothers.  Sixteen  (64  percent)  of  the  supe- 
rior group  and  twenty  (80  percent)  of  the  other  had  been  breast-fed 
full  time,  that  is,  at  least  nine  months;  and  only  six  (two  of  the 
superiors  and  four  of  the  control  group)  has  been  entirely  bottle- 
fed. 

First  teeth. — An  answer  to  the  question,  "When  did  the  first 
teeth  appear?"  was  sometimes  given  hesitatingly,  for  there  were 
written  records  for  only  three  of  the  superior  children  and  seven 
of  the  others.  With  respect  to  the  time  of  the  appearance  of  the 
first  lower  incisors  the  two  groups  compare  as  indicated  in  Table 
X. 

TABLE  X.    AGES  AT  WHICH  LOWER  INCISORS  APPEARED 


RANGE 

MEDIAN 

AVERAGE 

(months) 

(months) 

(months) 

SUPERIOR  GROUP. 

3-11 

6 

6.7 

CONTROL  GROUP.  . 

4-14 

7.5 

8.1 

On  the  independent  testimony  of  the  mothers,  then,  the 
brighter  group  was  more  precocious.  Emmett  Holt  (3)  gives  the 
normal  time  for  the  first  teeth  as  from  four  to  nine  months.  One 


26 


Health  and  Physical  Development 


27 


of  the  superiors  had  teeth  as  early  as  three  months,  but  no  child 
of  the  control  group  was  ahead  of  normal.  Five  superior  children 
did  not  cut  any  teeth  until  ten  or  eleven  months  of  age,  and  seven 
of  the  control  group  were  somewhat  retarded,  one  infant  until  his 
fifteenth  month. 

Age  of  beginning  to  walk. — Whether  or  not  normal  children 
walk  and  talk  earlier  than  feeble-minded  children  is  a  question 
that  Mead's  statistical  study  (5)  answers  in  the  affirmative.  The 
writer's  data  lend  color  to  the  theory  that  children  of  superior 
intelligence  develop  these  functions  earliest  of  all.  The  parents 
were  asked  to  tell  the  age,  nearest  month,  at  which  the  child  was 
able  to  walk  unassisted.  "To  walk"  means  to  walk  at  least  a 
few  steps  and  is  to  be  considered  as  the  first  stage  in  a  process  that 
is  developed  without  undue  interruption.  Mead's  definition  of 
walking,  viz.,  "to  take  a  step  unassisted"  might  permit  the  inclu- 
sion of  cases  where  the  function  in  question  has  not  actually 
begun  to  be  established.  In  the  comparison  given  in  Table  XI, 
it  should  be  remembered,  therefore,  that  the  writer's  figures  repre- 
sent a  conservative  estimate. 

TABLE  XI.       AGES  AT  WHICH  CHILDREN  LEARNED  TO  WALK 


RANGE 

MEDIAN 

AVERAGE 

(months) 

(months) 

(months) 

MEAD:  144    "schoolable"    chil- 

dren of  the  higher  grades  in 

the     Indiana     School     for 

Feeble-Minded  Youth  

12-72 

21.60 

24 

MEAD:  50  normal  childrena  

11-30 

13.54 

14 

THIS  STUDY:  control  group  

10-22. 

13 

13.7 

THIS  STUDY:  superior  group  .  .  .  . 

10-15 

12 

12.3 

EARLIER  STUDY  BY  THE  WRITER: 

20  superiors  

9-19 

12 

12.2 

a  Since  Mead's  normal  group  was  comprised  of  children  of  graduate  students  at 
Columbia  and  a  few  professors,  it  was  probably  rather  above  average  in  intelligence. 
It  will  be  noted  that  the  control  group  is  a  little  more  precocious  than  Mead's  normal 
group,  probably  because  of  the  less  favorable  climate  of  the  East. 

"Infant  Care"  (7),  a  publication  of  the  United  States  Chil- 
dren's Bureau,  gives  the  normal  age  for  beginning  to  walk  alone 


28  Study  of  Some  High  School  Seniors  of  Superior  Intelligence 

as  twelve  or  thirteen  months.  These  various  comparisons  cer- 
tainly point  to  the  greater  precocity  of  bright  children.  In  the 
present  study  of  superiors  there  are  only  five  cases  of  beginning 
walking  later  than  thirteen  months,  but  seventeen  earlier. 

Age  of  beginning  to  talk. — An  investigation  of  the  age  when 
children  first  talk  is  beset  with  difficulties.  Many  mothers  have 
in  mind  the  first  word;  some  the  first  few  words.  The  writer 
knows  a  mother  who  declares  her  baby  said,  "Mamma,"  at  four 
months.  A  chance  word,  or  something  that  sounds  like  a  word, 
is  often  set  down  in  the  "baby-book"  as  the  beginning  of  talking. 
Hence  there  is  an  objection  to  Mead's  definition  of  talking  as 
using  a  word  intelligently:  i.e.,  associating  the  idea  with  the  object. 
In  the  hope  of  getting  a  more  definite  estimate  the  mothers  were 
asked  to  state  when  the  child  could  first  use  words  in  short 
sentences. 

"At  the  end  of  the  second  year  the  average  child  is  able  to  put 
words  together  in  short  sentences,"  says  Emmett  Holt  in  The  Care 
and  Feeding  of  Children  (3).  It  is  this  stage  that  is  meant.  The 
mothers  often  found  difficulty  in  giving  exact  ages,  but  the  judg- 
ments offered  were  thought  to  be  fairly  accurate.1  In  computing 
measures  of  central  tendency  it  has  been  thought  best  to  ignore 
the  datum  for  Number  13,  because  this  boy  was  put  in  charge  of 
a  German  nursery-governess  at  about  the  time  when  he  would 
normally  have  been  expected  to  begin  using  his  native  language. 
The  result  was  that  German  was  the  first  language  he  could 
really  speak  (at  three  years  of  age).  The  remaining  twenty-four 
cases  compare  with  the  control  group  as  shown  in  Table  XII. 
Since  twenty-four  months  is  the  usual  average  estimated  by 
authorities  (7)  on  early  childhood,  the  superior  group  was  unques- 
tionably accelerated  in  speech  development. 

Health  since  infancy. — Ratings  on  health  since  infancy  were 
based  on  the  mother's  report  of  all  the  illnesses  and  physical  weak- 

1  It  is  extremely  unlikely,  however,  that  Numbers  38  and  50,  two  of  the  dullest 
in  the  control  group,  talked  as  early  as  their  mothers  stated  (12  and  18  months,  re- 
spectively). These  two  mothers  made  a  good  many  assertions  that  were  found  to  be 
erroneous.  See  next  chapter.  Some  of  the  testimony  of  the  mother  of  Number  31, 
who  is  said  to  have  talked  at  16  months,  also  proved  rather  unreliable.  However,  the 
figures  given  by  these  mothers  have  been  used  in  finding  the  average,  etc.  for  the 
control  group. 


Health  and  Physical  Development 


29 


nesses  of  the  child  and  her  estimate  of  general  health.    As  in  the 
case  of  health  in  babyhood,  1  was  taken  to  mean  very  good;  2, 

TABLE  XII.  AGES  AT  WHICH  CHILDREN  BEGAN  TO  TALK  (USE  WORDS 

IN  SENTENCES) 


• 

RANGE 

(Months) 

MEDIAN 
(Months) 

AVERAGE 
(Months) 

SUPERIOR  GROUP 

12-30 

18 

19 

CONTROL  GROUP  

12tt-36 

* 

24 

25 

a  See  footnote  to  page  28. 

good;  3,  fair;  4,  poor;  and  5,  very  poor.     Table  XIII  gives  the 
distribution. 

The  two  groups  had  about  the  same  records  for  health  in 
infancy,  but  here  the  control  group  has  the  better  one.  Twenty- 
three,  or  92  percent,  of  this  group  and  nineteen,  or  76  percent,  of 
the  brighter  pupils  are  rated  at  least  2  (good).  One  reason  for 
this  difference  may  be  that  the  mothers  of  the  superior  children 
were  more  often  employed  outside  the  home  and  so  less  able  to 
look  after  their  children  and  to  provide  them  with  physical 
comforts.  Terman's  work  (6)  tends  to  show  that  children  of 

TABLE  XIII.    HEALTH  SINCE  INFANCY 


HEATH  RATING 

SUPERIOR  GROUP 

CONTROL  GROUP 

1 

13 

15 

2 

6 

8 

3 

4 

0 

4 

2 

2 

5 

0 

0 

exceptional  intelligence  are  not  below  the  average  in  general 
health,  as  so  many  people  believe,  and  his  conclusion  is  that 
reached  by  the  writer  in  a  previous  study  (9).  Certainly  a  pro- 
portion of  76  percent  of  the  present  superior  group  who  have  a 
health  record  of  "good"  or  "very  good"  (for  the  most  part  "very 
good")  does  not  imply  sickliness  among  superiors.  The  same 
number — two — in  each  group  are  rated  4  (poor).  The  two  in 


30  Study  of  Some  High  School  Seniors  of  Superior  Intelligence 

the  superior  group,  however,  are  now  in  excellent  health.  One 
mother  said  of  her  son  (Number  6),  "He  has  had  terrible  illnesses 
but  he  is  always  very  well  between  times."  On  the  other  hand,  the 
two  in  the  control  group  have  been  persistently  delicate — or 
positively  ill — since  early  childhood. 

All  fifty  subjects  have  had  measles,  and  all  but  three  of  the 
superiors  and  one  of  the  control  group  had  one  or  more  of  the 
other  contagious  diseases  or  other  ailments.  Eleven  in  the 
superior  group  and  nine  in  the  other  had  adenoids  removed ;  eleven 
in  each  group  had  their  tonsils  taken  out;  and  ten  of  the  superiors 
and  nine  of  the  other  children  had  both  tonsils  and  adenoids 
removed.  One  child  in  each  group  (Numbers  21  and  38)  has 
suffered  from  almost  total  deafness  in  one  ear.  Two  bright  chil- 
dren and  one  dull  one  stuttered  in  childhood  but  have  practically 
overcome  this  difficulty  since.  There  are  four  superior  pupils  and 
five  in  the  other  group,  who  wear  glasses.  Numbers  1  and  2 
among  the  superiors  have  had  chorea,  one  case  being  an  after- 
effect of  inflammatory  rheumatism.  Four  others  in  this  group 
and  five  in  the  other  were  described  as  "somewhat  high-strung" 
or  "apt  to  worry  over  lessons,"  but  none  of  these  has  had  any 
genuinely  neurotic  symptoms.  However,  Numbers  35  and  39  in 
the  control  group  (the  two  who  are  rated  4  in  health)  have  been 
seriously  troubled  with  nervousness  and  what  might  appropriately 
be  called  a  pathological  dread  of  recitations,  supposedly  unsympa- 
thetic teachers,  and  the  like. 

As  regards  height,  weight,  and  general  evidences  of  health  at 
present,  the  superior  young  people  seem  to  have  some  advantage 
over  the  others,  though  figures  on  these  points  are  not  sufficiently 
exact  to  give  precise  data.  Woodrow  says  that  "exceptionally 
bright  children  average  somewhat  above  normal  children  in 
height  and  weight"  (8). 

Age  at  maturity. — Authorities  differ  somewhat  on  the  question 
of  the  usual  age  of  puberty.  It  is  most  frequently  given  as  from 
thirteen  to  fifteen  for  girls  and  from  fourteen  to  sixteen  for  boys, 
in  the  temperate  zone,  more  particularly  in  this  country.  Though 
our  figures  are  too  few  to  warrant  definite  conclusions,  the  facts 
in  the  cases  should  be  noted.  The  ages  (nearest  birthday)  at 
the  first  menstrual  period  of  the  ten  girls  in  each  group  ranged 
from  \\-Yi  to  15  years  for  the  brighter  girls,  and  from  12  to  17 


Health  and  Physical  Development  31 

years  for  the  others.  The  average  in  the  former  case  was  found  to 
be  13.4  years;  in  the  latter  14.3  years.  Three  of  the  control 
group  were  over  fifteen.  The  girl  in  the  superior  group  who 
matured  at  eleven  and  a  half  is  a  Jewess,  and  it  is  well-known  that 
Jews  mature  early.  Even  if  we  disregard  this  instance,  a  tendency 
to  earlier  physiological  maturity  among  the  superior  girls  is 
apparent. 

Judgments  of  the  boys'  ages  at  puberty  were  based  chiefly  on 
the  time  the  voice  changed,  though  the  mothers  were  also  asked 
when  they  first  noticed  a  marked  increase  in  height  and  when 
hair  first  appeared  on  the  face.  Since  these  changes  were  so 
recent — unlike  first  dentition,  walking,  and  talking — we  may 
doubtless  accept  the  mothers'  testimony  as  pretty  reliable.  The 
range  for  the  superior  boys  was  from  13  to  16  years  and  for  the 
others  from  13J/2  to  17  years.  The  average  for  the  former  was 
14  years  and  for  the  latter  15  years.  That  is,  the  superior  group 
is  one  year  ahead  of  the  control  group.  If  we  accept  fourteen  to 
sixteen  as  the  usual  age  of  puberty,  four  of  the  bright  boys  may 
be  considered  precocious  because  they  were  about  thirteen  when 
they  reached  physiological  maturity;  only  two  in  the  control 
group  were  under  fourteen.  None  of  the  superior  boys  were 
over  sixteen,  though  four  of  the  others  were  beyond  that  age. 
Race  does  not  seem  to  have  been  a  very  important  factor.  There 
is  one  Jew  in  each  group  (Numbers  4  and  48,  who  matured  at  14 
and  13^2,  respectively).  The  fact  that  Number  10  of  the  superior 
group  is  the  son  of  Italians,  who  also  mature  early,  may  account 
for  his  reaching  puberty  at  thirteen  years  of  age. 

Boas  (1)  and  Irving  King  (4)  have  shown  that  good  environ- 
ment hastens  the  pubertal  change  and  that  children  of  the  laboring 
classes  develop  later  than  those  more  favorably  situated.  These 
conclusions  do  not,  however,  explain  the  difference  between  our 
two  groups,  for  it  will  be  remembered  that  home  conditions  were 
propitious  for  both.  The  duller  group  was  even  found  to  have  a 
rather  better  health  record.  A  peculiarly  favorable  environment 
cannot,  then,  be  the  cause  of  the  earlier  maturing  of  the  superiors. 
If  our  subjects  were  pre-pubescents  we  might  look  for  an  explana- 
tion of  the  difference  in  brightness  in  the  fact  that  physiological 
and  mental  development  keep  pace.  The  investigations  of  Cramp- 
ton  (2)  and  Woodrow  (8)  prove  that  the  rapidity  with  which  a 


32  Study  of  Some  High  School  Seniors  of  Superior  Intelligence 

child  completes  his  mental  growth  is  correlated  with  the  rapidity  of 
his  anatomical  development.  In  other  words,  a  bright  child  may 
be  bright  simply  because  he  is  anatomically,  and  hence  mentally, 
older.  But  the  young  people  we  are  considering  have  all  matured, 
so  the  physiological  differences  cannot  be  great.  It  will  be  shown 
later  that  chronologically  our  superior  group  is  at  least  a  year 
younger  than  the  control  group,  and  we  have  just  seen  that  the 
former  reached  physiological  maturity  sooner.  It  is  not  unlikely, 
therefore,  that  the  two  groups  are  now  much  the  same  age  ana- 
tomically, that  is,  they  have  both  come  to  a  similar  stage  of  ana- 
tomical development.  Nevertheless,  one  group  is  much  brighter 
than  the  other.  The  same  thing  was  found  in  the  writer's  earlier 
study.  Further  data  would  probably  prove  conclusively  that 
bright  boys  and  girls  tend  to  arrive  at  puberty  sooner  than  dull 
ones. 

Summary. — With  regard  to  health  and  physical  development 
the  following  facts  are  the  most  salient: 

(1)  On  the  whole,  the  control  group  has  excelled  the  superior 
in  general  health,  but  the  difference  is  not  marked.     It  is  quite 
unlikely  that  the  superior  group   should  be  considered  below 
average  in  health. 

(2)  According  to  the  mothers,  the  superior  children,  as  a  group, 
cut  their  first  teeth  earlier.    There  is  a  difference  of  about  a  month 
and  a  half  in  central  tendency. 

(3)  There  is  a  similar  difference  in  favor  of  the  brighter  chil- 
dren in  the  age  of  learning  to  walk.    Their  precocity  shows  even 
more  clearly  when  comparisons  are  made  with  norms  of  other 
investigators. 

(4)  The  more  intelligent  group  could  put  words  together  in 
sentences  sooner  than  the  others  could.    For  the  brighter  group 
as  a  whole  there  was  an  acceleration  of  six  months  in  speech 
development,  not  only  in  comparison  with  the  control  group  but 
also  with  the  performance  of  the  average  child,  as  estimated  by 
authorities  on  early  childhood. 

(5)  The  brighter  boys  and  girls  reached  physiological  maturity 
earlier  than  the  others. 

REFERENCES 

(1)  Boas,  F.,  "Growth"  article  in  A  Cyclopaedia  of  Education  (ed.  P.  Monroe),  New 
York,  1912. 


Health  and  Physical  Development  33 

(2)  Crampton,  C.  W.,  "The  Influence  of  Physiological  Age  Upon  Scholarship,"  Psy- 
chological Clinic,  1:115-20,  June,  1907. 
(3;  Holt,  L.  Emmett,  The  Care  and  Feeding  of  Children,  pp.  31-39,  New  York,  1915. 

(4)  King,  Irving,  The  High  School  Age,  Indianapolis,  1914. 

(5)  Mead,  C.  D.,  "The  Relations  of  General  Intelligence  to  Certain  Mental  and 

Physical  Traits."  Teachers  College  Contributions  to  Education,  No.  76,  1916. 

(6)  Terman,  L.  M.,  The  Intelligence  of  School  Children,  p.  164  ff,  New  York,  1919. 

(7)  West,  Mrs.  Max,  "Infant  Care."      U.  S.  Children's  Bureau  Publications,  1914, 

No.  8,  p.  52,  Wasinghton. 

(8)  Woodrow,  H.  H.,  Brightness  and  Dullness  in  Children,  p.  97  ff.,    Philadelphia, 

1919. 

(9)  Yates,  D.  H.,  "A  Study  of  Twenty  High  School  Seniors  of  Superior  Intelligence," 

Journal  of  Educational  Psychology,  11:264-74,  May- June,  1920. 


CHAPTER  VI 

EDUCATION  AND  MENTAL  DEVELOPMENT 

Mental  superiority  may  be  discussed  under  two  heads,  pre- 
cocity and  unusual  ability,  though  it  is  often  difficult  to  separate 
the  two.  This  chapter  will  present  some  pertinent  data  secured. 

Very  early  evidences  of  precocity  and  unusual  ability. — Besides 
the  precocity  in  speech  development  already  noted,  which  might 
appropriately  be  discussed  under  mental  development,  there  are 
other  evidences  of  very  early  mental  alertness  in  the  superior 
group.  The  mothers  of  the  children  in  this  group  spontaneously 
made  use  of  such  expressions  as  "asked  the  whys  and  the  where- 
fores of  everything,"  "never  forgot  what  you  told  him,"  "very 
observant,"  "mentally  like  a  child  much  older,  every  one  said." 
At  three  years  of  age  one  child  could  say  about  forty  Mother 
Goose  rhymes;  at  two  and  a  half  another  could  recite  all  of 
Mother  Goose;  a  third  knew  all  the  street  cars  at  three,  though 
no  one  knows  how  he  learnt  them;  a  fourth  could  subtract  simple 
numbers  before  he  was  four;  a  fifth  spoke,  read,  and  wrote  English 
and  German  at  five;  a  sixth  overwhelmed  her  parents  with  re- 
markable questions  about  God;  and  so  on  and  so  on.  It  is  quite 
different  with  the  control  group,  however.  Only  one  mother 
believed  she  could  give  evidence  of  precocity,  and  this  turned  out 
to  be  "he  kept  himself  very  clean  and  neat,"  "at  eight  months 
he  fed  himself  with  a  fork,"  "he  learnt  to  thank  people  when  real 
small."1  The  difference  between  the  two  groups  showed  markedly 
in  the  quantity  and  quality  of  questions  asked,  according  to  the 
mothers'  testimony.  Twenty-one,  or  84  percent,  of  the  superior 
children  were  reported  to  have  asked  decidedly  more  questions 
than  the  average  child  and  their  questions  were  also  rated  as 
unusually  intelligent.  Moreover,  there  was  not  infrequently 
noted  an  ability  on  the  child's  part  to  offer  well-reasoned  explana- 
tions of  matters  attracting  his  attention.  On  the  other  hand  only 

1  Number  38.  See  footnote  to  p.  28  for  a  comment  on  the  unreliability  of  his 
mother's  testimony. 

34 


Education  and  Mental  Development  35 

seven,  or  28  percent,  of  the  control  group  were  said  to  have  asked 
an  unusual  number  of  questions,  and  in  one  case  the  mother  said, 
"J.  asked  a  great  many  questions  but  I  am  afraid  they  were  not 
always  very  sensible  ones." 

Kindergarten  attendance. — Ten  of  the  superior  group  and  five 
of  the  control  group  attended  kindergarten.  There  is  no  particu- 
lar significance  in  these  figures,  for  six  of  the  ten  superior  children 
and  one  of  the  five  "control"  children  were  sent  to  kindergarten 
because  their  mothers  were  either  employed  or  had  heavy  house- 
hold duties.  This  leaves  four  in  each  group  sent  through  no 
special  necessity.  Four  of  the  superior  group  attended  for  six 
months  or  less,  four  for  one  year,  one  for  a  year  and  a  half,  and 
one  a  private  kindergarten  for  three  years  (Number  15).  Three 
of  the  control  group  attended  four  months  or  less;  one,  one  year; 
and  one,  two  years. 

Formal  home  instruction  and  age  and  grade  at  entering  school. — 
In  only  five  cases  in  the  superior  group  and  two  in  the  control  had 
there  been  any  serious  attempt  at  formal  home  instruction.  It 
should  be  noted  that  none  of  the  superiors  were  regarded  as  prodi- 
gies or  reared  as  such.  Number  2  was  taught  in  his  fifth  year  by 
his  mother,  who  found  him  a  very  apt  pupil.  He  entered  the 
second  grade  at  six  though  he  was  practically  ready  for  the  third. 
Number  13,  when  between  two  and  five  years  of  age,  had  a  German 
nursery-governess  who  took  delight  in  teaching  her  clever  charge 
to  read  and  write  English  and  German  and  to  add  and  subtract. 
At  seven  years  he  entered  the  high  third  grade.  Number  14  was 
so  eager  to  learn  that  her  mother  was  pressed  into  teaching  her  to 
read.  Number  20  was  taught  the  regular  school  subjects  by 
her  mother,  and  entered  the  high  fourth  grade  at  eight.  The  child 
read  remarkably  well  before  she  was  six.  Number  23  showed 
such  a  keen  interest  in  books  that  his  mother  taught  him  in  his 
fourth  year.  When  nearly  five  he  entered  school,  ready  for  the 
second  grade  at  least,  but  only  permitted  in  the  first.  Such  eager- 
ness for  knowledge  was  not  apparent  in  the  control  group.  Num- 
ber 29  was  taught  rather  irregularly  for  three  years  by  her  half- 
sister,  a  normal-school  student  who  wished  practice,  and  the  child 
was  able  to  enter  the  second  grade  at  the  age  of  eight.  Number 
44  was  taught  "to  read  and  figure"  by  an  ambitious  grandmother, 


36  Study  of  Some  High  School  Seniors  of  Superior  Intelligence 

but  this  did  not  advance  her  in  school  for  she  entered  the  first 
grade  when  six  and  remained  in  it  the  full  time. 

All  of  the  superior  children  entered  the  grades  at  six  or  seven 
years  except  three.  One  entered  at  five,  and  two  others  at  eight, 
one  of  these  having  had  home  instruction  and  the  other  having 
attended  a  private  kindergarten.  Nineteen  of  the  control  group 
began  their  school  attendance  when  six  or  seven  years  of  age. 
Of  the  remaining  six — who  entered  about  eight — five  had  been 
allowed  to  stay  out  of  school  for  no  very  good  reasons  and  one 
had  been  taught  at  home.  The  last  was  the  only  one  of  the  con- 
trol group  who  began  school  in  a  grade  above  the  first,  but  five 
superiors  entered  higher  grades  at  once. 

Age  of  learning  to  read.2 — Besides  the  children  who  had  definite 
home  instruction  there  were  others  who  had  learned  to  read 
previous  to  entering  school.  These,  as  one  might  suppose,  were 
all  in  the  superior  group.  Number  9  learnt  to  read,  without  being 
taught,  at  five  years  of  age  and  soon  after  to  write.  Number  3 
could  read  before  he  was  six,  possibly  learning  from  an  older 
brother.  Numbers  11  and  17  astonished  their  mothers  by  their 
ability  to  read  fluently  after  one  day  in  school^  though  they  had 
had  no  previous  instruction  except  such  as  came  through  asking 
questions.  Fortunately  they  were  both  promptly  transferred  to 
the  second  grade.  Eight  other  superiors  "just  picked  up  their 
letters"  and  "learnt  to  spell  some  words,"  through  insistent  ques- 
tioning or  from  older  brothers  and  sisters.  Several  children  were 
very  anxious  to  learn  to  read  but  were  put  off  for  various  reasons.3 
With  superior  children  learning  seems  to  be  markedly  self -initiated 
and  often  self-conducted.  A  previous  investigation  (2)  and  Ter- 
man's  study  (1)  of  an  even  brighter  group  indicate  more  clearly 
the  conclusion  here  reached,  viz.,  that  the  superior  child  early 
evinces  precocity  and  spontaneity  in  the  learning  process.  It  is 
noteworthy  that  there  were  only  three  children  in  the  control 
group  who  learnt  even  the  alphabet  without  being  deliberately 

2  In  this  discussion  "to  read"  means  ability  to  read  text  at  least  as  difficult  as  any 
primer,  and  generally  of  first-reader  quality. 

3  One  reason  sometimes  given  was  that  "teachers  don't  want  the  children  taught 
at  home."    The  objection  is  that  home  and  school  methods  conflict  and,  if  learning  to 
read  is  begun,  but  not  completed,  in  the  home  much  confusion  and  loss  of  interest 
result. 


Education  and  Mental  Development 


37 


taught.  These  children  (Numbers  32,  35,  and  42),  who  entered 
school  at  seven,  eight,  and  seven  years  of  age  respectively,  had 
succeeded  in  "picking  up"  their  letters  from  older  children  in  the 
family,  but  this  was  the  extent  of  their  pre-school  achievement. 

TABLE  XIV.  AGES  AT  LEARNING  TO  READ 


• 

NUMBER  IN 
SUPERIOR 
GROUP 

NUMBER  IN 
CONTROL 
GROUP 

From  4th  to  5th  birthday 

1 

0 

From  5th  to  6th  birthday  

5 

0 

From  6th  to  7th  birthday.  . 

15 

13 

From  7th  to  8th  birthday. 

3 

7 

From  8th  to  9th  birthday  

1 

4 

From  9th  to  10th  birthday.  .  . 

0 

1 

A  complete  tabulation  of  the  ages  at  which  these  children 
learned  to  read  is  given  in  Table  XIV.  From  this  table  the  pre- 
cocity of  the  superior  group  is  apparent.  For  example,  six,  or 
24  percent,  in  the  superior  group,  but  no  one  in  the  other,  could 
read  before  the  sixth  year. 

Attendance  at  private  schools. — None  of  the  superior  group  ever 
attended  private  school  except  the  one  child  who  went  to  a  private 
kindergarten.  Of  the  control  group  three  have  gone  to  private 
schools  part  of  the  time.  One  spoilt  child  (Number  28)  sand- 
wiched his  public  school  course  with  attendance  at  three  different 
private  schools,  because,  to  quote  his  mother,  "he  wanted  a 
change"  or  "was  not  particularly  interested."  It  is  perhaps  need- 
less to  say  that  each  school  he  left  was  enthusiastic  about  his 
departure.  The  other  two  children  of  the  control  group  (Num- 
bers 26  and  36)  attended  private  schools  for  several  years  chiefly 
because  their  parents  were  people  of  means  and  social  position. 

Rapidity  of  school  progress. — We  can  disregard  private  school 
attendance  in  considering  rapidity  of  progress  through  the  grades 
because  there  was  practically  no  difference  between  the  private 
and  public  institutions  in  grade  arrangement.  Table  XV  shows 
that  eighteen,  or  72  percent,  of  the  superior  children  have  skipped 
from  one  to  five  half-year  grades.  The  average  for  the  whole 


38 


Study  of  Some  High  School  Seniors  of  Superior  Intelligence 


TABLE  XV.     SUPERIOR  GROUP  I   EDUCATIONAL  DATA 

(Girls'  numbers  are  followed  by  an  *) 


PUPIL'S 

NUMBER 

REGULAR  IN  SCHOOL 
ATTENDANCE? 

HALF- 
YEAR 
GRADES 
SKIPPED, 
INCLUDING 
HIGH 
SCHOOL 

HALF- 
YEAR 
GRADES 
REPEATED, 
INCLUDING 
HIGH 
SCHOOL 

YEARS  RE- 
QUIRED 
TO  COM- 
PLETE 
HIGH 
SCHOOL 

AGE  AT 
GRADUA- 
TION   FROM 
HIGH 
SCHOOL 

Yrs.  Mos. 

1 

No  (illness) 

0 

0 

4 

19        1 

2 

Yes,  but  out  nearly  % 

* 

year  (illness)* 

1 

0 

4 

16        7 

3 

Yes,   but  out  Yi  year 

(moving) 

0 

0 

4 

18        5 

4 

Yes 

2 

0 

3 

17        0 

5 

Yes 

2 

0 

4 

17        4 

6 

Yes,   but  out  Yz  year 

(illness) 

0 

0 

4 

18        5 

7 

Yes 

3 

0 

VA 

16        2 

8* 

Yes 

2 

0 

3^ 

17        0 

9* 

Yes 

4 

0 

3 

16      10 

10 

Yes,   but  out   Yi  year 

(illness) 

2 

0 

3 

17        4 

11 

Yes,   but  out   Yz  year 

(moving) 

4 

0 

3^2 

17      10 

12 

Yes 

1 

0 

4 

17        7 

13 

Yes 

0 

0 

4 

16        5 

14* 

Yes,   but  out   Yz   year 

(mother's  illness) 

3 

0 

4 

17        6 

15* 

Fairly 

2 

0 

4 

18      10 

16* 

Yes,  but  out  \Yz  years 

(needed  at  home) 

1 

0 

3H 

18      11 

17 

Yes 

5 

0 

4 

16        4 

18 

Yes 

4 

0 

3 

16        7 

19 

Yes,  but  out  1  year  (at 

work) 

0 

0 

4 

19        5 

20* 

Yes 

1 

0 

V/2 

15      10 

21* 

No  (illness) 

1 

0 

3^ 

18        9 

22* 

Yes,   but   out   Yz  year 

(moving) 

3 

0 

3 

16        8 

23 

Yes 

3*> 

0 

4HC 

17        2 

24* 

Yes 

0 

0 

4 

18        7 

25* 

Yes 

0 

0 

4 

18        0 

a  Though  not  coached,  he  did  not  repeat  the  grade  missed. 

b  The  effect  of  his  three  extra  promotions  was  nullified  by  frequent  change  of  school. 

c  See  p.  40. 


Education  and  Mental  Development 


39 


TABLE  XVI.  CONTROL  GROUP  :  EDUCATIONAL  DATA 

(Girls'  numbers  are  followed  by  art  *) 


PUPIL'S 
NUMBER 

REGULAR  IN  SCHOOL 
ATTENDANCE? 

HALF- 
YEAR 
GRADES 
SKIPPED, 
INCLUDING 
HIGH 
SCHOOL 

HALF- 
YEAR 
GRADES 
REPEATED, 
INCLUDING 
HIGH 
SCHOOL 

YEARS  RE- 
QUIRED 
TO  COM- 
PLETE 
HIGH 
SCHOOL 

AGE  AT 
GRADUA- 
TION FROM 
HIGH 
SCHOOL 
Yrs.    Mos. 

26 

Yes 

2 

2 

5 

17        7 

27 

Yes 

3b 

0 

4 

16       9 

28 

Fairly 

0 

2 

5 

19      IQd 

29* 

Yes 

0 

0 

4 

19        4 

30* 

Yes 

0 

0 

4 

17        6 

31 

Yes,    but    out    1    year 

(moving) 

0 

0 

4 

19        9 

32 

Yes 

3 

1 

4H 

18        1 

33 

Yes 

1 

0 

4 

18        4 

34* 

Yes 

1 

1 

3^ 

18        5 

35* 

Yes 

0 

0 

4 

19      11 

36* 

Yes 

1 

0 

3^ 

17        7 

37 

Yes,   but  out   3/£   year 

(illness) 

1 

2 

4^ 

19        4 

38 

Fairly 

0 

3 

5 

19        Id 

39 

Yes,  but  out  nearly   }/% 

year  (illness)* 

1 

0 

3^b 

18        1 

40* 

Yes,  but  out  nearly   % 

year  (mother's  illness) 

I" 

0 

4 

19        5 

41 

Yes,   but  out   J^   year 

(illness) 

0 

0 

4 

20        1 

42 

No  (moving) 

1 

2 

4H 

18        1 

43* 

Fairly,  but  out  1  year 

1 

0 

4 

20        2d 

44* 

Yes,   but  out   ^  year 

(moving) 

1 

0 

4 

18        1 

45 

Fairly 

1 

0 

4 

19        7 

46* 

Yes 

0 

2 

4 

19        6 

47* 

Yes 

0 

0 

4 

18      10 

48 

Yes 

0 

2 

4 

20        0 

49 

Yes,  but  out  1  year  (at 

work) 

0 

0 

4 

19        3 

50* 

Yes 

1 

0 

4 

17      11 

a  Had  private  coaching  to  make  up  the  work  so  was  not  obliged  to  repeat. 

b  See  p.  41. 

c  Also  saved  a  half  year  through  transfer  to  a  country  school. 

d  See  p.  42. 


40 


Study  of  Some  High  School  Seniors  of  Superior  Intelligence 


group  is  1 . 76  grades  skipped.  No  one  has  ever  repeated  a  grade.4 
Of  the  control  group -fourteen,  or  56  percent,  have  skipped  from 
one  to  three  grades  (see  Table  XVI),  and  the  average  for  the  group 
is  .  76.  Nine,  or  36  percent,  have  repeated  from  one  to  three 
grades.  These  figures  include  high-school  grades,  i.e.,  if  a  boy  has 
completed  high  school  in  three  and  a  half  years  he  is  reckoned 
as  skipping  one  high-school  grade.  Grades  omitted  through 
immediate  entrance  into  a  grade  higher  than  the  first  are,  of 
course,  excluded. 

Progress  in  high  school. — (See  Tables  XV  and  XVI.)  One  is 
perhaps  surprised  to  learn  that  slightly  over  half  the  control 
group  have  skipped  grades,  but  this  does  not  seem  so  surprising 
when  it  is  noted  that  almost  all  the  grades  skipped  were  elementary 
ones.  Table  XVII  contrasts  the  two  groups  as  to  rate  of  advance- 
ment in  high  school,  where  the  control  group  has  done  less  difficult 
work  but  has  progressed  much  more  slowly. 

TABLE  XVII.    RATE  OF  ADVANCEMENT  IN  HIGH  SCHOOL 


YEARS  REQUIRED  TO 

SUPERIOR 

CONTROL 

FINISH  HIGH 

GROUP 

GROUP     • 

SCHOOL 

3 

5 

0 

3^ 

6 

3 

4 

13 

16 

4^ 

1 

3 

5 

0 

3 

The  one  superior  boy  (Number  23)  who  has  taken  over  four  years 
to  complete  his  studies  entered  high  school  when  he  was  under 
thirteen,  but  had  to  prolong  his  course  because  he  largely  sup- 
ported himself.  Those  in  the  control  group  who  spent  four  and  a 
half  or  five  years  in  high  school  have  no  satisfactory  excuse  to 
offer. 

Some-  reasons  for  additional  promotion. — Some  of  the  reasons 
why  children  in  the  control  group  were  advanced  in  school  are 
amusing.  For  example,  two  months  after  entrance  one  first- 
grader  (Number  42)  told  his  teacher  that  he  had  been  to  school 

4  Note  reference  to  Number  23  in  the  next  section. 


Education  and  Mental  Development  41 

before,  so  he  was  transferred  to  the  high  first  grade;  sometime 
later  he  explained  that  he  had  meant  Sunday  school!  Number  27 
was  once  advanced  because  he  proved  troublesome  to  a  certain 
teacher.  Number  39,  who  completed  high  school  in  three  and  a 
half  years,  was  pushed  and  prodded  by  his  mother  in  order  to 
keep  up  with  his  much  brighter  twin,  though  on  more  than  one 
occasion  his  teachers  promoted  him  very  reluctantly. 

Attitude  of  parents  towards  rapid  advancement. — The  opposite 
tendency  is  observable  with  the  four  mothers  of  superior  children 
who  purposely  restrained  them  from  the  more  rapid  progress 
suggested  by  their  teachers.  Ill  health  was  not  the  deterring 
motive.  In  three  cases  (Numbers  5,  22,  and  25)  the  reason  given 
was  that  too  precocious  mental  development  was  believed  harm- 
ful and  should  be  discouraged.  One  child  (Number  6)  was  held 
back  out  of  consideration  for  a  dull  older  brother.  Most  of  the 
children  in  the  two  groups,  however,  were  allowed  "to  go  their 
own  pace,"  as  Terman  puts  it.  (1)  According  to  the  testimony  of 
the  mothers,  only  five  in  the  superior  group  and  six  in  the  control 
(excluding  Number  39  mentioned  in  the  last  paragraph)  received 
parental  encouragement — and  this  of  a  mild  sort — to  go  ahead 
rapidly. 

Regularity  in  school  attendance  and  change  of  school. — Celerity 
in  completing  the  school  course  is  partly  contingent  on  regular 
attendance.  It  will  be  seen  from  Table  XV  that  thirteen  of  the 
superior  children  were  rated  by  their  parents  as  "regular"  in 
attending.  Nine  were  regular  except  for  some  period  of  a  half 
year  or  more  when  kept  out  by  their  own  illness  (three  cases),  or 
the  mother's  (two  cases),  because  at  work  (one  case),  or  because 
the  family  moved  to  another  city  (three  cases).  One  child  was 
reported  only  fairly  regular.  Two  others,  Numbers  1  and  21,  were 
decidedly  irregular  on  account  of  illness.  Number  21  skipped  one 
grade  nevertheless.  Number  1,  while  set  down  as  skipping  no 
grades,  really  made  remarkable  progress,  for  he  was  three  times 
promoted  on  the  strength  of  only  a  few  weeks'  attendance  and 
never  failed  of  promotion  though  he  has  lived  in  six  different  cities 
during  his  school  course.  Moving  from  city  to  city  does  not  always 
mean  irregular  attendance ;  but  it  does  necessitate  a  greater  or  less 
educational  readjustment,  and  frequent  change  of  school  is 
usually  a  cause  of  serious  setback.  The  brighter  pupils  weathered 


42  Study  of  Some  High  School  Seniors  of  Superior  Intelligence 

such  changes  remarkably  well.  One  unfortunate  child  (Number 
8)  attended  fifteen  schools,  and  another  one  (Number  15)  eleven! 
Yet  each  skipped  two  grades.  In  every  case  those  of  the  superior 
group  whose  age  of  graduation  is  over  eighteen  have  been  retarded 
by  frequent  change  of  school,  ill  health,  or  by  being  out  of  school 
for  various  good  reasons. 

The  record  of  the  control  group  as  regards  regularity  of  attend- 
ance is  not  much  different  from  that  of  the  superior  group.  The 
reasons  given  for  one  or  more  terms  out  are  also  much  the  same.  The 
total  amounts  of  time  lost  through  these  absences  are  practically 
identical,  namely,  twelve  terms  by  the  superior  group  and  eleven 
by  the  other.  As  regards  health  it  has  already  been  shown  (see 
Chapter  V)  that  the  control  group  had  the  advantage.  Certainly 
no  one  in  this  group  was  decidedly  irregular  in  attendance  because 
of  ill  health,  and  no  one  experienced  anything  like  the  number  of 
family  moves  mentioned  in  the  case  of  some  of  the  superior  chil- 
dren. Three  of  the '"fairly  regular"  (Numbers  28,  38,  and  43) 
were  so  simply  because  they  have  too  indulgent  parents  who 
humored  them  in  their  wish  to  stay  out  of  school  without  adequate 
cause.  None  of  these  three,  be  it  added,  will  graduate  from  high 
school.  Unsatisfactory  in  scholarship  and  conduct  they  have 
drifted  away  during  their  last  semester. 

Age  at  graduation  from  high  school. — For  the  sake  of  a  complete 
comparison  the  three  young  persons  just  mentioned  have  been 
included  in  computing  age  at  graduation.  Supposing  them  to  have 
completed  their  last  term's  work  in  the  usual  time — which  was 
quite  unlikely — the  two  groups  would  compare  in  age  of  gradua- 
tion as  follows:  superior  group,  median  17.3  years,  average 
17.5  years;  control  group,  median  19.1  years,  average  18.8 
years.  It  is  clear  that  the  superior  pupils  are,  as  a  group,  dis- 
tinctly younger  at  graduation  than  those  with  an  average  mental 
rating.  The  above  figures  are  strikingly  similar  to  those  given  in 
the  former  study  of  twenty  superiors.  (2)  Others  who  have 
worked  much  with  mental  tests  find  this  same  high  correlation 
between  excellence  in  the  tests  and  acceleration  in  school.5  Tables 
XV  and  XVI  show  that  there  are  only  nine,  or  36  percent,  in  the 
superior  group  over  eighteen  when  they  graduate;  but  that  in  the 

6  Unpublished  data  furnished  by  the  Oakland  Department  of  Research  and  Guid- 
ance showed  this. 


Education  and  Mental  Development 


43 


other  group  there  are  twenty,  or  80  percent.  The  figures  very 
likely  underestimate  the  brighter  group,  for  fourteen  of  them,  as 
against  five  in  the  control  group,  have  already  graduated.  This 
means  that  the  dates  for  the  rest  of  the  pupils  are  merely  estimates 
contingent  on  the  work  being  completed  this  term,  something  of 
an  uncertainty  with  some  of  the  control  group.  It  may  be  ob- 
jected that  this  group  has  been  at  slight  disadvantage  because  a 
few  entered  school  late.  This  fact  undoubtedly  emphasizes  the 
lesser  intellectual  "drive"  of  the  duller  group.  Indeed  two  mothers 
stated  that  their  daughters  could  have  entered  school  earlier  if 
they  "had  wanted  to  go."  To  prove  beyond  question  that  the 
superior  children  take  less  time  to  finish  school,  the  average  num- 
ber of  years  required  by  those  children  in  each  group  who  entered 
at  the  first  grade  has  been  computed.  The  twelve-year  course 
is  completed  on  an  average  in  11.1  years  by  the  more  intelligent 
children,  and  in  precisely  1 2  years  by  the  others.6 

Scholarship  record  previous  to  high  school. — Precocity  in  the 
educational  process  was  accompanied  by  superior  achievement. 
The  better  quality  of  high-school  work  done  by  the  superior  boys 
and  girls  has  been  remarked  (Chapter  III) .  A  similar  superiority 
in  the  earlier  grades  is  shown  by  Table  XVIII,  in  which  the 
notation  described  on  page  13  is  employed. 


TABLE  XVIII.     AVERAGE  MARKS  IN  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL 


AVERAGE  OF 

SUPERIOR  GROUP 

CONTROL  GROUP 

T-i 

SCHOOL  MARKS 

Boys 

Girls 

Total 

Boys 

Girls 

Total 

1 

3 

4 

7 

0 

1 

1 

1- 

8 

3 

11 

2 

2 

4 

2  + 

1 

2 

3 

2 

1 

3 

2 

2 

1 

3 

6 

2 

8 

2- 

1 

0 

1 

2 

1 

3 

3+ 

0 

0 

0 

1 

2 

3 

3 

0 

0 

0 

1 

1 

2 

3- 

0 

0 

0 

1 

0 

1 

6  Periods  out  of  a  half  year  or  longer  have  not  been  counted  as  attendance.    The 
method  of  reckoning  slightly  favors  the  duller  group. 


44  Study  of  Some  High  School  Seniors  of  Superior  Intelligence 

Records  for  the  elementary-school  grades  were  seldom  .available 
in  the  form  of  "report  cards,"  but  the  young  people  and  their 
parents  were*  in  such  close  agreement  in  their  statements  that  the 
marks  here  given  can  be  accepted  as  reliable  evidence.  It  will 
be  noted  that  eighteen,  or  72  percent,  of  the  superior  group  are 
rated  as  1  or  1  —  ,  while  only  five,  or  20  percent,  of  the  other 
group  are  so  graded.  On  the  other  hand,  only  four  of  the  former 
group  fall  as  low  as  2  or  2  — ,  while  seventeen  of  the  latter  go  as 
low  or  lower. 

General  and  special  intellectual  ability. — Superior  ability,  in 
distinction  from  precocity,  is  a  subject  that  lends  itself  less  well  to 
statistical  treatment.4  We  may  point  to  better  school  marks  but 
these  do  not  half  tell  the  story.  It  is  suggested  in  certain  recurrent 
phrases  of  parents  and  teachers,  phrases  that  defy  satisfactory 
quantitative  classification.  Here  are  some  of  them:  "very  quick 
and  alert  mentally,"  "eager  for  knowledge,"  "an  original  mind," 
"exceptional  reasoning  powers,"  "unusually  large  vocabulary," 
"mature  point  of  view,"  "independent,"  "great  power  of  concen- 
tration," "excellent  judgment,"  "a  clear  thinker."  And  others: 
"well-informed  on  a  great  many  subjects,"  "always  wants  an 
explanation  for  everything,"  "can  do  well  anything  she  tries," 
"has  always  loved  books,"  "quick  to  see  the  point."  The  reader 
is  referred  to  the  Appendix  for  a  few  brief  individual  descriptions. 
A  fuller  discussion  of  unusual  ability  will  be  included  in  the  chap- 
ter following,  which  deals  with  interests. 

It  should  be  said  at  this  point  that  intellectual  ability  was 
reported  to  be  general  not  special.  There  are  no  cases  of  genuine 
one-sidedness  in  either  group,  according  to  the  parents.  In  fact 
the  superiors  seem  singularly  "all-round,"  to  use  an  expression  of 
Terman,  who  finds  the  same  thing.  One  mother  said  of  her 
daughter,  "All  her  teachers  want  her  to  specialize  in  their  particu- 
lar subjects  because  she  does  everything  so  well";  another  mother 
stated,  "Our  boy  seems  to  be  very  capable  in  every  intellectual 
field  that  he  enters."  However,  the  attention  is  often  focussed 
on  certain  interests  and  studies  more  than  others,  as  will  be  shown 
later.  Special  talents,  such  as  musical  and  artistic  ability,  do  not 
concern  us  here. 

Moral  traits. — The  information  obtained  about  moral  traits 
did  not  prove  suitable  for  statistical  treatment.  It  did,  however, 


Education  and  Mental  Development  45 

support  Terman's  conclusion  that  intellectually  superior  young 
people  are  as  a  rule  morally  superior  also.  "Reliable,"  "depend- 
able," "straightforward,"  "a  fine  fellow,"  were  favorite  descriptive 
terms  used  by  teachers  and  parents.  The  writer  heartily  agrees 
with  this  testimony  in  so  far  as  she  knows  the  young  people. 
Their  cooperative  spirit  was  quite  apparent  when  it  came  to  the 
details  of  the  investigation.  The  same  cannot  be  said  for  all  of  the 
control  group.  For  instance,  it  took  seven  telephone  messages, 
two  letters,  and  a  personal  visit  to  extract  the  "questionnaire" 
from  Number  28.  Ten  of  the  control  group  were  reported  to  have 
undesirable  traits  of  character.  For  the  other  group  adverse 
criticism  of  character  was  negligible. 

Summary. — The    data   presented    in    this    chapter   may   be 
summed  up  as  follows: 

(1)  Even  in  the  first  few  years  of  life  the  superior  children 
generally  displayed  some  mental  precocity  and  a  degree  of  alert- 
ness in  question-asking,  memorizing,  etc.  not  found  in  the  control 
group. 

(2)  The  brighter  children  showed  decidedly  greater  ability, 
precocity,  and  spontaneity  in  the  early  learning  process.    They 
were  conspicuously  self -helpful  in  learning  to  read. 

(3)  Nearly  three-fourths  of  the  superior  group  have  skipped 
from  one  to  five  half-year  grades,  but  none  have  repeated  any 
grades.    On  the  other  hand,  a  little  over  half  of  the  control  group 
have  skipped  from  one  to  three  grades,  and  over  a  third  have 
repeated  from  one  to  three  grades. 

(4)  Difference  in  the  rate  of  progress  of  the  two  groups  has 
been  particularly  marked  in  high  school  where  the  work  is  more 
difficult. 

(5)  In  measures  of  central  tendency  the  superior  group  is  found 
to  be  over  a  year  younger  than  the  duller  group  at  the  time  of 
graduation  from  high  school.     It  is  also  shown  that  the  former 
complete  the  twelve-grade  school  course  in  nearly  a  year  less  time 
than  the  latter. 

(6)  The  intellectual  superiority  of  one  group  is  shown  in  part 
by  their  better  school  marks. 

(7)  Parents  and  teachers  stressed  the  "all-round"  ability  of 
the  superiors. 


46  Study  of  Some  High  School  Seniors  of  Superior  Intelligence 

(8)  The  superior  pupils  were  rated  higher  than  the  others  in 
moral  traits.  • 

REFERENCES 

(1)  Terman,  L.  M.,  The  Intelligence  of  School  Children,  p.  170  ff.  New  York,  1919. 

(2)  Yates,  D.  H.,  "A  Study  of  Twenty  High  School  Seniors  of  Superior  Intelligence," 

Journal  of  Educational  Psychology,  11:264-74,  May- June,  1920. 


CHAPTER  VII 

INTERESTS 

Knowing  something  of  the  home  environment  and  the  physical, 
mental,  and  educational  history  of  these  boys  and  girls  makes  it 
possible  for  us  to  consider  intelligently  the  question  of  their 
interests.  To  what  objects,  ideas,  situations,  etc.,  have  they 
reacted  with  a  feeling  of  decided  interest?  In  what  do  the  young 
people  themselves  think  they  have  been  most  interested?  In  what 
do  their  parents  think  these  children  have  been  most  interested? 
And  more  particularly,  what  specific  evidence  is  there  of  any 
interest  mentioned?  Answers  to  these  questions  were  obtained 
by  means  of  a  questionnaire  (see  Appendix)  and  through  talks 
with  the  parents  (and  other  relatives) ,  teachers,  and  the  boys  and 
girls  themselves. 

Attitude  towards  school. — One  of  the  first  questions  asked  each 
mother  was,  "Has  your  child  liked  school?"  It  was  explained  that 
"school"  meant  the  regular  school  studies  and  routine  not  includ- 
ing the  extra-curricular  activities,  which  all  might  be  expected 
to  enjoy.  Degree  of  interest  has  been  classified  as  in  Table  XIX. 


TABLE  XIX.     LIKING  FOR  SCHOOL 


SUPERIOI 

i  GROUP 

CONTROl 

,  GROUP 

SCHOOL 

DURING 

ELEMENTARY 
SCHOOL 

DURING 
HIGH 
SCHOOL 

DURING 
HIGH 
SCHOOL 

DURING 
ELEMENTARY 
SCHOOL 

VERY  STRONG  
STRONG 

17 
3 

18 
3 

6 

4 

8 
4 

MODERATE  

5 

3 

11 

10 

SLIGHT.  .  .    . 

0 

1 

1 

2 

POSITIVE  DISLIKE  

0 

0 

3 

1 

47 


48  Study  of  Some  High  School  Seniors  of  Superior  Intelligence 

This  report,  which  was  verified  through  the  young  people 
themselves,  shows  that  the  superior  group  has  been  greatly 
interested  in  school.  Twenty-one,  or  84  percent,  have  had  a  strong 
—generally  very  strong — liking  for  high  school,  and  twenty,  or 
80  percent,  felt  the  same  interest  in  the  elementary  work.  Nine- 
teen, or  76  percent,  have  had  a  strong  or  very  strong  liking  for 
school  throughout  the  entire  course.  One  boy  only  (Number  5) 
has  been  classified  as  having  a  "slight"  liking  (for  high  school). 
The  situation  is  quite  different  with  the  control  group.  Fifteen, 
or  60  percent,  have  liked  high  school  "moderately"  or  less,  three 
positively  disliking  it.  In  fact,  to  only  six,  or  24  percent,  has  high 
school  made  a  very  strong  appeal.  Nor  was  the  elementary  work 
much  more  attractive  to  this  group. 

The  reasons  given  for  little  or  no  interest  in  school  are  signifi- 
cant. The  one  bright  boy  who  has  liked  high  school  only  slightly 
has  been  an  excellent  student  (the  average  of  his  marks  in  both 
elementary  and  high  school  is  1  — ),  but  he  says  that  "other  things 
are  more  interesting  than  school  because  you  can  think  for  your- 
self, and  you  don't  have  to  do  things  at  certain  times."  Those  of 
the  control  group  who  have  disliked  school  or  have  felt  only 
"slight"  interest  in  it,  give  quite  different  explanations.  Number 
38,  a  boyj  says,  "I  always  did  hate  school.  I  seemed  to  get  lec- 
tures in  class  but  hated  to  get  down  and  study."  Another  boy 
(Number  28)  writes,  "I  don't  like  books  and  lessons,  but  engines 
and  everything  that  has  to  do  with  engines  is  the  only  thing  that 
interests  me  much."  A  third  (Number  39),  reports,  "I  guess  I  am 
just  naturally  a  'bone-head,'  for  most  of  the  work  in  school  seems 
uninteresting  and  hard  to  understand."  A  girl  (Number  29) 
explains  that  she  never  took  much  interest  in  her  studies  until 
recently  because  she  preferred  "to  have  a  good  time."  Another 
girl  (Number  43)  writes,  "High-school  studies  are  taught  in  a 
most  uninteresting  manner.  I  didn't  think  the  art  teachers  were 
good  either  and  that  is  what  I  like  best  to  do." 

Among  the  control  group  the  causes  of  only  "moderate" 
liking  for  school  work  may  be  classified  as  follows:  (1)  the  pupil 
is  chiefly  interested  in  athletics  or  some  manual  activity,  such  as 
tinkering  with  an  automobile,  working  on  a  ranch,  etc. ;  (2)  he  is 
anxious  to  go  to  work  and  he  sees  no  practical  value  in  his  studies ; 
(3)  he  is  taking  a  school  course  that  is  beyond  his  ability;  (4)  he 


Interests  49 

lacks  decided  interest  in  anything  requiring  real  effort  or  exer- 
tion. 

On  the  other  hand  school  seems  normally  to  arouse  keen 
interest  among  superiors  for  in  all  the  present  cases  where  liking 
is  "moderate"  there  is  some  good  reason.  Number  4  is  much 
interested  in  high-school  work,  but  he  could  hardly  have  been 
expected  to  show  great  enthusiasm  for  the  badly  taught  elemen- 
tary school  in  rural  Texas  which  he  attended.  Number  23  spends 
most  of  his  time  after  school  hours  earning  to  support  himself,  so 
he  writes,  "I  should  be  interested  in  nearly  every  high-school 
study  if  I  had  the  time  to  remain  in  school  longer  and  study  after 
school  more."  Number  21's  deafness  has  kept  her  from  a  real 
enjoyment  of  school,  though  she  says,  "the  subject-matter  usually 
interests  me."  Number  20  "took  school  as  a  matter  of  course," 
her  mother  explained  in  referring  to  the  elementary  work,  "and 
would  have  been  more  interested  if  she  had  not  happened  to  be  a 
little  lonesome."  Number  15's  lukewarm  attitude  towards  high 
school  is  the  result  of  inadequate  educational  guidance  at  the 
beginning  of  her  secondary  course.  She  had  found  her  earlier 
work  extremely  interesting.  "But  when  she  took  high-school 
work  her  courses  never  seemed  to  fit,"  said  her  mother.  "She 
would  go  to  her  teachers  about  it  but  was  always  being  sent  to 
some  one  else.  Finally,  a  year  or  so  ago,  I  told  her  it  was  no  use, 
she  had  better  give  up  trying  to  arrange  things  better,  and  just 
get  enough  credits  to  graduate."  So  this  bright  but  diffident 
little  girl  lost  her  ambition  for  college  in  an  over-large  high  school. 
She  is  the  only  one  in  the  superior  group  who  has  taken  the 
"general"  course. 

Liking  for  certain  studies. — The  report  of  general  attitude 
towards  school  work  is  supplemented  by  specific  information  as 
to  which  studies  have  aroused  unusual  interest  (question  2  of  the 
Questionnaire).  The  two  groups  are  compared  in  Table  XX. 
The  subjects  are  arranged  in  order  of  popularity  among  the 
brighter  group  without  regard  to  relative  percent.  Science1  leads 
with  a  decided  majority,  while  manual  work  has  only  one  votary. 
With  the  control  group  drawing  (including  design,  commercial 

1  Physics  or  chemistry,  or  both,  in  sixteen  out  of  seventeen  cases.  If  both  have 
been  taken,  both  are  usually  named.  In  one  case,  when  neither  have  been  studied, 
general  science  and  biology  are  mentioned. 


50 


Study  of  Some  High  School  Seniors  of  Superior  Intelligence 


art,  and  freehand  and  mechanical  drawing)  is  most  popular  and 
mathematics  least.  A  striking  point  of  difference  lies  in  the  total 
number  of  subjects  listed  by  each  group,  viz.,  fifty- three  by  the 
control  group  and  sixty-six  by  the  superior,  i.e.,  about  one-fourth 
more.  This  emphasizes  what  we  have  already  noted  in  the  pre- 
ceding section,  namely,  the  greater  liking  of  the  superiors  for 
school  work.  Ten  of  them  even  volunteer  the  information  that 
they  have  been  greatly  interested  in  all  their  studies,  but  none  of 

TABLE  XX.  SUBJECTS  OF  SPECIAL  INTEREST 


SUPERIOR  GROUP 

CONTROL  GROUP 

Number 
taking 
this  sub- 
ject 

Number 
unusually 
interested 

Percent 
of  those 
taking    un- 
usually 
interested 

Number 
taking 
this  sub- 
ject 

Number 
unusually 
interested 

Percent 
of  those 
taking  un- 
usually 
interested 

SCIENCE  

24 

17 

71 

25 

5 

20 

HISTORY  AND 

ECONOMICS 

25 

13 

52 

25 

8 

32 

ENGLISH.  .  .  . 

25 

12 

48 

25 

6 

24 

MATHEMA- 

TICS   

25 

7 

28 

25 

3 

12 

DRAWING  — 

12 

6 

50 

13 

11 

85 

Music 

13 

4 

31 

15 

5 

33 

LANGUAGES.. 

24 

4 

17 

22 

5 

23 

COMMERCIAL 

WORK  

4 

2 

50 

10 

5 

50 

MANUAL 

WORK  

7 

1 

14 

9 

5 

56 

the  other  group  make  any  such  statement.  The  subjects  men- 
tioned by  the  brighter  pupils  should  be  regarded  as  particular 
favorites  rather  than  exclusive  preferences. 

Obviously  the  superiors  incline  toward  the  more  "solid" 
subjects.  Science,  history,  English,  and  mathematics  form  74 
percent  of  the  total  number  of  subjects  exciting  unusual  interest. 
These  studies  make  up  only  41  percent  of  the  total  number  of 
favorites  of  the  control  group, "while  59  percent  come  under  the 
head  of  drawing,  music  (choral,  glee,  and  band),  languages,  com- 


Interests  51 

mercial  work,  or  manual  work  (shop,  cooking,  sewing,  etc.).  It 
should  be  added  that  the  five  pupils  in  the  duller  group  who  have 
been  unusually  interested  in  languages,  name  only  Spanish,  which 
is  considered  the  easiest.  None  of  the  four  bright  pupils  especially 
liking  languages  mention  Spanish,  but  speak  of  "languages"  in 
general  (two  pupils),  of  French,  and  of  Latin  and  French.  It 
will  be  noticed  that  the  number  who  have  taken  a  given  subject 
varies  with  the  two  groups  by  no  more  than  two  in  any  case  except 
for  commercial  work,  so  the  figures  in  the  table  for  "number 
unusually  interested"  are  fairly  comparable  as  they  stand.  The 
course  elected  (college  preparatory,  general,  etc.)  can  not  have 
influenced  the  report  materially,  particularly  as  pupils  take 
subjects  and  courses  they  like  best,  broadly  speaking. 

Reasons  for  preferences  are  best  given  in  the  pupils'  own  words. 
To  quote  from  the  written  replies  of  some  of  the  superiors: 

"Physics  and  chemistry  are  the  two  basic  sciences,  and  give 
one  a  knowledge  of  the  why  and  wherefore  of  the  workings  of 
nature  and  of  things  in  general." 

"The  logic  in  such  subjects  as  plane  geometry  is  very  interest- 
ing." 

"There  seems  to  be  a  fascination  in  working  problems,  deriving 
formulas,  and  producing  chemical  compounds." 

"I  like  to  express  my  philosophy,  ideals,  emotions,  and 
thoughts  through  the  conversation  of  the  characters  in  dramas  I 
have  written,  and  through  essays  (of  which  I  have  written  many). 
I  have  also  written  lots  of  poetry."  (This  lad  is  sixteen!) 

"I  suppose  because  they  (mathematics,  chemistry,  physics, 
and  mechanical  drawing)  were  all  easy  for  me,  and  I  always 
wanted  to  know  just  why  anything  was  so,  its  cause  and  effect." 

"I  have  always  liked  mathematics  on  account  of  the  ease  I 
have  in  working  problems;  history,  because  I  like  to  read  what 
great  men  did." 

"I  wish  the  newspaper  to  be  my  profession.  These  studies 
(journalism,  short-story  writing,  civics,  and  languages)  enlarge 
your  vocabulary,  but  more  important  than  that  they  enlarge 
your  ideas  of  life.  I  think  it  is  the  duty  of  every  citizen  to  know 
about  the  government  and  current  affairs.  Legal  matters  have 
always  attracted  me  ...  I  have  had  exceptional  success  in  the 
writing  of  short  stories  in  both  grammar  and  high  school.  I 
like  it." 


52  Study  of  Some  High  School  Seniors  of  Superior  Intelligence 

"I  have  been  unusually  interested  in  trigonometry,  mechanical 
drawing,  chemistry,  and  physics  because  they  require  reasoning 
and  are  not  merely  a  collection  of  facts  to  be  remembered." 

"I  have  been  interested  in  stenography  partly  because  I  am 
going  to  earn  my  living  by  it,  and  partly  because  it  is  such  an 
interesting  subject.  You  can  always  learn  something  new  about 
it.  I  am  interested  in  history  because  it  helps  me  understand 
present-day  problems." 

"I  have  been  unusually  interested  in  French,  English,  and 
Latin.  I  am  very  interested  in  tracing  the  development  of  English 
and  in  connecting  it  with  Latin  and  French.  I  spend  extra  time 
on  word  derivation." 

Some  of  the  control  group  write: 

"Although  at  times  it  has  been  hard  for  me,  math,  has  always 
interested  me  and  I  always  liked  working  out  practical  problems 
in  it." 

"I  am  very  much  interested  in  drawing  and  especially  design- 
ing. These  things  seem  to  be  easy  for  me  naturally." 

"I  like  Spanish  because  I  desire  to  travel  some  day  and  Spanish 
is  spoken  in  many  countries." 

"I  don't  know  why  but  I  always  did  like  drawing.  As  for 
shop  work,  it  was  just  natural  to  like  machinery,  etc." 

"I  have  always  been  very  fond  of  sewing  and  like  office  prac- 
tice and  history  very  much." 

"I  like  art  because  I  feel  I  have  a  certain  amount  of  talent." 
H  "I  like  music  and  Spanish  because  they  have  been  easy  for  me." 
fr~-    "Music  is  very  interesting,  and  because  I  play  the  piano,  I 
find  it  a  live  subject." 

"I  have  been  unusually  interested  in  shorthand,  typing,  cur- 
rent English,  and  business  correspondence  because  I  thought 
these  subjects  would  help  me  when  I  left  school." 

"In  designing  there  is  always  something  very  interesting  to 
work  out,  and  it  is  a  help  to  me  at  home.  I  like  typing  because  it 
is  so  different  from  other  studies.  I  liked  physiology  because  I 
learned  more  about  myself  and  how  to  improve  my  habits." 

These  are  thoroughly  representative  quotations.  In  the  case 
of  the  control  group  the  above  list  is  almost  exhaustive.  Other 
replies  practically  duplicate  these,  or  merely  reiterate  that  such 
and  such  a  subject  is  "interesting,"  or  give  no  reason  at  all. 


Interests  53 

Interest  in  reading. — Interest  in  school  studies  is  bound  up 
with  liking  for  reading  in  general.  The  latter  was  determined  in 
two  ways,  viz.,  through  questions  6  to  11  in  the  Questionnaire  and 
by  questioning  the,  parents.  According  to  the  parents  (their 
testimony  was  amply  supported  by  other  evidence)  every  single 
one  of  the  superiors  had  shown  an  interest  in  books  which  was 
much  above  that  of  the  average  young  person  (cf.  Table  XXI). 
On  the  other  hand,  none  of  the  control  group  had  exhibited  a  like 
amount  of  interest.  Thirteen,  or  a  little  more  than  half  the  group, 
were  reported  to  have  had  average  liking  for  reading,  and  six,  or 
about  a  fourth,  less  than  average.  The  remaining  six  were 
judged  somewhat  above  average.  Four  of  these  (all  girls)  men- 
tion reading  among  favorite  interests  in  answering  question  10 
of  the  Questionnaire  (Tell  what  has  interested  you  most,  etc.), 
but  they  specify  romantic  fiction,  generally  of  a  very  light  order. 
Only  one  of  the  group  (a  boy,  Number  31)  was  thought  to  be 
above  average  in  his  fondness  for  non-fiction.  Question  9  (Give 
the  names  of  books,  magazines,  newspapers,  etc.,  which  you  have 
read  during  the  past  twelve  months  other  than  those  read  as 
required  preparation  for  school  studies  .  .  .  )  brought  out  spe- 
cific and  detailed  information  as  to  the  nature  of  subject-matter. 
Three  boys  of  the  control  group  say  they  have  read  no  books  at 
all  (except,  of  course,  text-books)  during  the  year,  and  another 
one  never  reads  any  magazines.  Two  boys  have  read  only  one 
book  apiece  in  twelve  months.  One  girl  never  reads  the  news- 
papers. 

All  of  the  superiors  have  read  magazines  and  newspapers  regu- 
larly, and  all  but  one  (Number  23,  who  has  to  work  most  of  his 
time  out  of  school)  have  read  books  during  the  past  year.  One 
boy  names  only  two  books  read  in  this  period,  but  another  writes, 
"I  read  an  average  of  three  books  a  week.  As  I  do  not  study  at 
home  I  spend  my  leisure  time  reading  books  and  magazines."  A 
girl  names  thirty-four  authors  whose  books  she  has  read  within 
the  year,  and  generally  lists  a  number  of  works  for  each.  Four- 
teen superiors  (eight  boys  and  six  'girls)  particularly  mention 
reading  in  giving  their  chief  interests,  and  all  of  the  group  indicate 
their  keen  interest  in  books  somewhere  in  their  replies.  Their 
answers  to  the  question,  "What  kind  of  reading  has  interested 
you  most?"  show  a  wide  range  of  subject-matter.  Four  even 


54  Study  of  Some  High  School  Seniors  of  Superior  Intelligence 

specify  that  they  have  liked  "all  kinds  of  books  and  reading,"  as 
one  boy  puts  it. 

Let  us  consider  the  preferences  in  a  broad  classification. 
Twenty-two  of  the  superiors  mention  fiction;  twelve,  scientific 
subjects  (always  more  than  just  practical  mechanics);  eleven, 
current  events  and  general  information;  eight,  history;  and  six, 
poetry.  The  control  group  name  fiction  twenty-two  times, 
current  events  and  general  information,  twelve  times;  scientific 
subjects  (only  practical  mechanics  in  four  cases),  seven  times; 
and  history  and  poetry  twice  each.  This  classification,  however, 
is  not  sufficiently  inclusive  nor  detailed  to  show  the  number  and 
extraordinary  variety  of  the  topics  listed  by  the  brighter  group. 
Judging  by  their  descriptions  and  examples  the  quality  of  their 
reading  is  decidedly  better.  There  is  a  greater  proportion  of 
standard  and  classic  fiction  in  their  lists  and  much  more  non- 
fiction.2  Sixteen  of  them  like  to  read  the  encyclopedia  even  when 
their  school  work  does  not  require  it.  Only  seven  of  the  control 
group  read  it  voluntarily  and  these  "only  once  in  a  while."  The 
eagerness  for  knowledge  that  characterizes  the  superiors  and  their 
wide  range  of  interests  are  well  expressed  in  their  own  words: 

"Reading  is  my  favorite  occupation;  not  so  much  for  the 
pleasure  of  the  thing  itself,  however,  as  for  what  I  may  learn  by 
it.  I  like  to  read  articles  on  the  sciences  especially.  Sometimes 
it  will  be  one  subject,  sometimes  another.  My  taste  varies.  It  is 
therefore  practically  impossible  for  me  to  say  in  what  subject  I  am 
most  interested.  Some  time  ago  it  was  astronomy.  At  another 
tune  it  was  psychical  research  (not  spiritualism).  Lately  it  has 
been  wireless  telegraphy.  I  am  also  interested  in  such  subjects 
as  archeology,  paleontology,  and  history.  For  fiction  I  like 
especially  Kipling,  Bulwer,  and  the  like.  Lately,  I  have  been 
reading  H.  G.  Wells.  His  books  are  rather  out  of  the  ordinary." 

2  The  following  list  of  books  read  by  a  superior  boy  within  the  year  is  not  one  of 
the  longer  ones  but  illustrates  the  point:  Churchill,  Inside  of  the  Cup;  Mark  Twain, 
Letters  and  Essays;  Gayley,  Poetry  of  the  People;  E.  O.  Jordan,  Food  Poisoning;  Gu- 
lick,  The  Efficient  Life;  Bennett,  How  to  Live  on  Twenty-four  Hours  a  Day;  The  Philoso- 
phy of  Art,  [author  not  given];  Tagore,  The  Post  Office;  Zangwill,  Nationalism;  Tagore, 
Nationalism;  Pillsbury,  Psychology  of  Nationalism;  Ross,  Social  Psychology.  It  may 
be  compared  with  this  representative  one  given  by  a  boy  of  the  control  group:  Rex 
Beach,  The  Iron  Trail;  Van  Loan,  Taking  the  Count;  Jack  London,  House  of  Pride; 
Bower,  Star  of  the  Desert. 


Interests  55 

"I  enjoy  reading  about  Newton  and  Einstein  theories,  and 
about  astronomy  and  things  like  that.  I  enjoy  working  over 
mathematics,  mathematical  fallacies,  and  puzzles.  I  help  all  the 
other  fellows  in  math  of  all  kinds  when  they  get  stuck,  especially 
in  geometry.  I  like  to  read  all  kinds  of  books,  and  reading  is 
my  great  indoor  pastime."  In  telling  the  kind  of  reading  that 
has  interested  him  most  this  boy  lists,  "mechanical  and  scientific 
books  of  all  kinds,  current  events,  history,  general  information, 
poetry  not  sentimental,  adventure,  business,  love  stories,  politics, 
religion.  .  .  ,  I  use  the  encylcopedia  whenever  I  find  an  un- 
known subject  in  my  reading.  I  don't  prefer  any  one  subject 
especially  but  I  like  to  use  it  to  keep  my  knowledge  well-rounded 
and  not  lop-sided.  I  suppose  that  if  I  do  prefer  any  at  all,  it  is 
something  along  the  lines  which  I  know  the  least  about,  that  is, 
probably  history,  philosophy  and  along  that  line.  There  is 
nothing  I  like  better  to  do  than  to  take  an  encyclopedia,  open  it, 
start  reading,  going  on  each  different  subject  as  it  comes  up  in  the 
reading  and  all  the  references  at  the  end  of  the  article.  I  do  not 
have  time  to  do  that  as  much  now  as  I  used  to  do  four  years  ago 
and  thereabouts." 

A  girl  who  is  reading  many  classic  authors  writes,  "I  am  trying 
to  read  all  their  stories  so  that  I  will  be  able  to  speak  intelligently 
on  famous  authors." 

"All  my  life  I  have  been  fond  of  reading.  ...  I  am  always 
happy  when  I  am  learning  something." 

One  boy  writes  that  he  has  been  most  interested  in  reading 
"poetry,  character  studies,  analytical  stories,  books  and  articles 
on  philosophy,  psychology,  physiology,  chemistry,  pharmaceu- 
tics, therapeutics,  theology,  electricity,  physics.  ...  I  read  the 
encyclopedia  in  order  to  add.  to  my  general  knowledge.  In  my 
note-book  I  have  a  list  of  subjects  about  which  I  know  but  little. 
Whenever  I  have  time  I  look  them  up  in  books  or  the  encyclope- 
dia. .  .  .  The  subjects  I  prefer  (in  the  encyclopedia)  are  hard  to 
state  because  all  knowledge  is  about  equally  acceptable.  How- 
ever, in  order  to  give  you  an  idea  of  the  information  I  obtain  in 
this  manner  I  will  give  a  list  of  some  of  the  subjects  which  I  have 
read  in  the  encyclopedia  in  the  last  few  months:  soap  making, 
vaccination,  small-pox,  tuberculosis,  and  the  blind." 

It  is  probably  needless  to  add  that  no  such  statements  are  made 
by  any  of  the  control  group. 


56  Study  of  Some  High  School  S&niors  of  Superior  Intelligence 

A  definite  quantitative  expression  of  the  amount  of  time 
usually  given  to  extra-curricular  reading  was  obtained  through 
question  8  (q.v.).  The  superiors  report  from  one  and  one-half 
to  twenty-four  hours  a  week  thus  spent;  the  control  group,  from 
one-half  (or  less)  to  twelve  hours.  The  average  for  the  former  is 
10.0  hours;  for  the  latter,  4.7.  The  twenty  superiors  studied 
before  averaged  8 . 9  hours  a  week,  the  control  group  is  that  case 
5 . 1  hours.  These  comparisons  reinforce  the  other  evidence,  that 
the  exceptionally  intelligent  are  much  greater  readers  than  ordi- 
nary young  persons. 

Home  duties  and  paid  employment. — It  might  be  objected  that 
the  amount  of  leisure  time  at  the  pupil's  disposal  may  have  in- 
fluenced these  data  and  possibly  the  number  of  avowals  of  interest 
in  reading.  If  the  duller  boys  and  girls  have  had  to  spend  much 
more  time  after  school  hours  in  working,  the  striking  difference  in 
time  devoted  to  voluntary  reading  might  indicate  little  in  regard 
to  natural  inclination.  But  it  will  be  remembered  that  the  control 
group  is  even  somewhat  superior  to  the  other  in  economic  status 
so  no  greater  necessity  for  paid  employment  is  apparent.  For  the 
sake  of  specific  information  every  pupil  was  asked  (Question- 
naire, question  15)  to  tell  the  nature  and  extent  of  all  home  duties 
and  of  all  paid  employments  outside  the  home  that  he  had  ever 
had,  giving  his  age  when  he  began  and  ended  each,  and  the  average 
number  of  hours  a  week  spent  on  it.  The  young  people  are  often 
too  uncertain  about  the  amount  of  time  taken  by  home  duties  to 
attempt  estimates,  but  those  that  are  given  indicate  little  or  no 
difference  between  the  groups.  By  adding  the  years  or  months  of 
paid  employment  of  each  pupil  it  is  possible  to  compare  the  aver- 
age working  period  of  the  two  groups.  The  greatest  total  amount 
of  time  given  to  outside  employment  by  any  of  the  superiors  is  six 
years;  by  any  of  the  control  group,  eight  years.  Six  girls  in  the 
former  group  and  four  in  the  latter  have  never  been  employed,  but 
all  the  boys  have.  The  average  for  the  superior  pupils  is  2 . 24 
years;  for  the  others,  2.60  years,  i.e.,  a  difference  in  central  ten- 
dency of  only  about  a  third  of  a  year  (.36).  This  small  longitudi- 
nal variation  certainly  does  not  indicate  that  paid  employment 
has  absorbed  the  attention  of  one  group  much  more  than  the 
other. 

From  the  standpoint  of  number  of  working  hours  during  times 
of  employment  the  difference  between  the  groups  is  extremely 


Interests  57 

small.  Averaging  the  average  number  of  working  hours  a  week 
we  find  that  the  superior  pupils  average  26 . 7  hours  (i.e.,  4 . 4  hours 
a  day  in  a  six-day  week),  and  the  others  27.4  hours  (i.e.,  4 . 5  hours 
a  day).  Employment  within  and  without  the  home  cannot,  then, 
be  offered  as  an  excuse  for  the  lesser  amount  of  time  given  by 
the  duller  pupils  to  voluntary  reading.  Nor  is  this  accounted  for 
altogether  by  the  time  spent  in  home  study,  which  averages  8 . 4 
hours  a  week  for  the  superior  pupils  and  11.2  hours  for  the  others, 
according  to  their  estimates.  That  is,  there  is  a  difference  between 
the  groups  of  2 . 8  hours,  which  is  not  proportionate  to  the  differ- 
ence in  time  spent  on  other  reading  (5 . 3  hours  as  shown  in  the 
last  section). 

Ratings  on  types  of  interests. — The  parents  were  asked  to  rate 
their  children  on  degree  of  interest  under  six  headings,  viz.,  (l) 
reading,  (2)  objective  things,  (3)  sports,  (4)  music,  (5)  art,  and 
(6)  people.  Earlier  experience  had  proved  this  classification  to  be 
sufficiently  inclusive.  The  first  class,  reading,  has  been  discussed. 
The  term  "objective  things"  applies  to  things  and  activities  with 
things — such  as  tools,  animals,  sewing,  cooking,  gardening,  and 
the  like — in  distinction  from  books  and  intellectual  interests. 
Under  "sports,"  which  really  forms  a  sub-class  of  objective  activi- 
ties, are  included  games,  athletics,  and  out-of-door  recreations 
like  "hiking"  and  camping.  "Music"  and  "art"  are  self-explana- 
tory terms.  Interest  in  "people"  means  gregariousness,  and 
interest  in  persons  and  social  situations.  The  mothers  were  re- 
quired to  base  their  judgments  on  "behavioristic"  evidence,  that 
is,  the  young  peron's  liking  for  any  particular  field  was  gauged 
by  amount  of  specific  performance  rather  than  verbal  expression 
of  interest.  In  a  few  cases  when  parental  evidence  was  not  satis- 
factory corrections  have  been  made  in  the  ratings.  In  reality  two 
judgments  were  given,  one  for  the  elementary-school  period  and 
the  other  for  the  high-school  years,  but  the  ratings  seldom  differed. 
An  average  was  taken  when  necessary.  The  five-point  scale  was 
again  used,  1  signifying  much  above  the  average  young  person; 
2,  above  the  average  young  person;  3,  average;  4,  below,  etc.; 
and  5,  much  below.  Table  XXI  shows  the  distribution. 

The  two  striking  facts  shown  in  Table  XXI  are  (1)  the  superior 
pupils'  marked  interest  in  books,  which  was  discussed  earlier  in 
the  chapter,  and  (2)  the  fact  that  the  brighter  young  people, 
collectively  speaking,  are  as  much  interested  as  the  others,  or 


58 


Study  of  Some  High  School  Seniors  of  Superior  Intelligence 


more  so,  in  every  field  except  art.  Fifteen,  or  60  percent,  of  the 
superiors  and  thirteen,  or  52  percent,  of  the  control  group  have 
been  decidedly  interested  in  objective  things,  and  activities  other 
than  sports  (ten  superiors  and  eight  of  the  others,  very  much  so) . 
Not  one  of  the  superiors  is  rated  below  average  in  his  liking  for 
sports,  though  two  of  the  control  group  are  thus  rated.  With 
regard  to  music  it  would  not  be  fair  to  say  that  either  group  has 
the  advantage.  The  brighter  one  is  rather  more  interested  than 
the  other  in  people.  This  report  certainly  belies  the  statement 
often  made  that  the  bright  child  is  only  interested  in  books.  It  is 
rather  that  he  has  more  interests  than  other  children,  and  reading 
is  generally  the  favorite. 

TABLE  XXI.    RATINGS  ON  TYPES  OF  INTERESTS 


OBJEC- 

TIVE 

RATING 

READING 

THINGS 

SPORTS 

Music 

ART 

PEOPLE 

S 

C 

S 

C 

S 

C 

S 

C 

S 

C 

S 

C 

1 

25 

0 

10 

8 

6 

6 

6 

5 

5 

5 

5 

2 

2 

0 

6 

5 

5 

4 

6 

6 

9 

4 

6 

6 

4 

3 

0 

13 

6 

10 

15 

11 

10 

8 

5 

6 

11 

15 

4 

0 

6 

4 

2 

0 

2 

3 

0 

7 

4 

3 

4 

5 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

3 

4 

4 

0 

0 

("S"  stands  for  "superior";  "C,"  for  "control".) 

A  comparison  of  the  activities  listed  by  each  group  of  pupils  as 
their  chief  interests  shows  clearly  a  quantitative  and  qualitative 
difference  that  may  be  illustrated  by  some  quotations: 

(Boy  of  superior  group)  "I  have  always  been  interested  in 
making  things.  When  I  was  about  three  years  old  I  was  given  a 
hammer  and  saw,  so  I  learned  how  to  use  them  early  in  life.  When 
I  was  about  six  I  was  given  a  tool  chest  and  with  the  tools  I  made 
ladders,  coasters,  etc.  When  I  was  ten  years  old  I  was  given  a 
Meccano  set.  This  interested  me  very  much  and  when  I  tired  of 
the  twenty-four  models  described  in  the  manual,  I  set  off  on  my 
own  hook  and  created  new  models.  I  even  rigged  up  an  affair 
by  which  the  front  door  could  be  opened  from  the  kitchen.  I  was 


Interests  59 

given  a  book  called  The  Boy  Mechanic.    It  told  how  to  make  hun- 
dreds of  little  things.     I  succeeded  in  making  quite  a  few  of  them 

" Better  than  making  things,  I  like  to  plan  them  in  my  mind 
I  sometimes  spend  my  leisure  time  for  weeks  thinking  a  plan 
through  from  beginning  to  end,  even  though  I  see  no  hopes  [for 
financial  reasons]  of  ever  making  the  things.  In  this  way  I  have 
thought  out  plans  for  several  kinds  of  cycle-cars  and  many  motor- 
boats." 

(Boy  of  control  group)  "  Any  thing  that  has  to  do  with  machin- 
ery or  the  like  attracts  my  attention.  When  quite  a  youngster, 
such  things  as  toys,  as  trains,  were  very  fascinating  to  me  and  I 
liked  to  take  apart  and  put  together  the  toys.  I  take  much  care 
and  interest  in  our  automobile  and  seem  to  understand  the 
machine  thoroughly." 

(Boy  of  control  group)  "I  never  have  been  very  much  inter- 
ested in  anything  particular  at  any  time." 

(Girl  of  control  group)  "I  suppose  I  might  be  called  an  all- 
round  person,  liking  school,  reading,  sewing,  dancing,  going  to 
shows,  etc.  ...  I  am  very  fond  of  home  life.  As  a  little  girl  I 
always  enjoyed  playing  house  and  school.  To  be  a  teacher  was 
then  my  greatest  hope.  But  I  guess  that  was  just  a  passing  fancy. 
I  am  very  fond  of  sweets  and  enjoy  preparing  them,  such  as 
making  candy." 

(Gifl  of  superior  group)  "Anything  in  connection  with  athletics 
or  science  and  mathematics  interests  me  greatly.  .  .  .  This 
term  I  have  been  particularly  interested  in  social  service  work. 
The  -  -  Club  that  I  belong  to  has  helped  me  in  this.  Going 
out  among  people  is  what  drew  my  attention  to  what  ought  to 
be  done  and  our  advisor  has  tried  to  show  us  how  to  do  it.  ...  I 
like  school-work  but  I  also  like  the  outside  activities  that  go  with 
school.  .  .  .  My  chief  interests  and  ambitions  are  to  become  a 
surgeon  and  to  have  lots  of  good  friends." 

Qualities  of  social  leadership. — Seven,  or  28  percent,  of  the 
superiors  have  shown  genuine  ability  as  leaders,  i.e.,  they  have 
been  class  presidents,  organizers  of  clubs,  etc.  That  they  have 
been  much  interested  in  these  social  activities  goes  without  saying. 
Three,  or  12  percent,  of  the  other  group  have  been  equally  promi- 
nent, and  four,  or  16  percent,  have  held  less  important  positions. 
Twelve,  or  48  percent,  of  the  brighter  pupils  have  also  had  such 


60  Study  of  Some  High  School  Seniors  of  Superior  Intelligence 

offices.  Two  superiors  are  so  much  interested  in  other  things — 
scientific  study  particularly — that  they  have  deliberately  avoided 
prominence. 

Summary. — With  regard  to  interests  it  has  been  shown  that: 

(1)  The  superior  group  has  been  greatly  interested  in  school, 
the  control  group  much  less  so. 

(2)  The  former  has  been  especially  interested  in  science  and 
the  more  " solid"  studies;  but  drawing  has  proved  the  most  attrac- 
tive school  subject  to  the  latter. 

(3)  All  of  the  brighter  pupils  have  been  unusually  fond  of 
reading  and  a  great  deal  more  so  than  the  other  young  people. 
The  former  have  been  eager  for  all  sorts  of  information,  and  they 
show  by  the  books  and  articles  they  have  read  a  remarkably  wide 
range  of  interests.    As  a  group  they  spend  on  an  average  over 
twice  as  much  tune  as  the  others  in  extra-curricular  reading. 

'(4)  This  difference  is  not  because  the  duller  pupils  have  to 
spend  more  time  at  work.  It  is  true  that  they  have  had  on  an 
average  a  little  more  paid  employment  outside  the  home,  but  the 
average  number  of  working  hours  a  week  for  each  group  is  prac- 
tically the  same. 

(5)  The  control  group  has  given  more  time  to  home  study  but 
not  a  sufficient  amount  to  account  for  the  difference  between  the 
groups  in  voluntary  reading. 

(6)  The  brighter  young  people,  collectively  speaking,  are  as 
much  interested  as  the  others,  or  more  so,  in  objective  things  and 
activities,  in  sports  and  athletics,  in  music,  and  in  people  and  social 
situations.    Art  is  the  only  field  in  which  the  duller  group  has  the 
advantage. 

(7)  The  superiors  more  often  show  qualities  of  leadership. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

CONCLUSION 

The  purpose  of  this  chapter  is  to  present  certain  conclusions 
indicated  by  the  results  of  the  investigation  and  to  make  some 
recommendations  with  regard  to  the  echication  of  superiors.  The 
findings  of  a  previous  study  of  twenty  superiors  agree  with' this 
one  on  all  the  more  important  points  and  lend  them  decided 
additional  validity. 

We  have  found  that  general  environmental  conditions  have 
been  much  the  same  for  both  groups.  Little  difference  between 
them  was  shown  when  home  conditions  were  ranked  by  a  carefully 
standardized  scale.  Most  of  the  young  people  have  always  at- 
tended public  schools.  The  two  groups  have  given  about  the 
same  amount  of  time,  on  an  average,  to  paid  employment  outside 
the  home.  With  respect  to  health  the  duller  group,  on  the  whole, 
has  excelled  the  other,  but  it  is  quite  unlikely  that  the  superiors 
should  be  considered  below  the  average.  The  latter,  however, 
have  been  more  precocious  physically  and  mentally.  It  is  very 
probable  that  they  come  of  more  intelligent  stock,  but  complete 
information  concerning  heredity  could  not  be  obtained  for  the 
parents  themselves  were  often  ignorant  in  the  matter.  The  de- 
cidedly greater  native  ability  of  the  brighter  group  showed  at  all 
ages.  It  was  apparent  in  their  learning  to  read  earlier,  in  their 
better  school  marks,  in  their  more  rapid  progress  in  school, 
especially  high  school.  But  more  particularly  it  showed  in  an 
intellectual  spontaneity,  a  keen  desire  for  knowledge,  and  a  wide 
range  of  interests. 

Naturally  they  have  turned  to  books  to  satisfy  their  craving 
for  knowledge.  All  of  this  group  have  been  great  readers.  The 
duller  group,  on  the  other  hand,  have  had  a  much  narrower  range 
of  interests  and  no  more  than  ordinary  liking  for  books.  School 
has  appealed  to  them  much  less.  The  evidence  with  regard  to 
extra-curricular  reading — books  and  magazines  read,  nature  of 
the  subject-matter  preferred,  time  spent  on  reading,  and  so  forth — 

61 


62  Study  of  Some  High  School  Seniors  of  Superior  Intelligence 

showed  a  striking  difference  between  the  two  groups.  One  is 
satisfied  with  light  fiction  or  a  very  moderate  amount  of  informa- 
tional literature  of  a  popular  sort;  the  other  not  only  reads  the 
best  of  fiction  but  also  seeks  knowledge  of  all  kinds  and  eagerly 
investigates  every  new  subject.  Their  interest  is  not  in  books 
alone,  however,  for  they  have  been  as  much  interested  as  the 
duller  pupils,  or  more  so,  in  objective  things  and  activities,  in 
sports  and  athletics,  in  music,  in  people  and  social  situations — 
in  short,  in  everything  except  the  field  of  art,  which  requires  spe- 
cial talent  that  the  duller  group  happen  to  possess  more  abun- 
dantly. 

A  bigger  response  to  the  environment,  a  catholic  interest  in 
everything,  is  what  particularly  characterizes  the  superiors. 
Their  reading  is  "not  so  much  for  the  pleasure  of  the  thing  itself," 
as  one  boy  puts  it,  but  for  what  may  be  learnt  thereby.  No 
wonder  scientific  subjects  have  a  special  attraction  for  them. 
They  seem,  like  Francis  Bacon,  to  have  taken  all  knowledge  for 
their  province.  There  is  a  vast  difference  between  the  groups  in 
point  of  view.  The  superiors  look  for  ultimate  principles,  causal 
explanations,  final  objectives;  the  other  group  do  not  seek  beyond 
the  immediate,  the  practical,  the  concrete.  In  terms  of  use  to 
society  this  difference  is  vital.  One  type  of  individual  has  only 
narrow,  personal  aims,  and  can  "see  no  use"  in  the  larger  curiosi- 
ties of  the  brighter  mind.  And  yet,  these  very  searchings  after 
truth  are  the  cause  of  human  progress.  It  is  from  the  superior 
minds  that  new  scientific  and  social  truths  emanate. 

Fortunately  for  society  exceptional  intelligence  is  generally 
accompanied  by  superior  moral  characteristics  and  often  by 
qualities  of  social  leadership.  The  brighter  mentality  is  apt  to 
meet  issues  of  all  sorts  squarely.  It  is  regrettable  that  there  is 
not  more  opportunity  in  our  schools  for  the  exercise  and  develop- 
ment of  leadership.  The  chief  obstacle  is  the  large  high  school, 
where  the  superficial  capabilities  of  a  catch-the-eye  type  of  young 
person  often,  overshadow  the  less  showy  qualifications  of  superior 
boys  and  girls.  The  small  school  is  much  more  successful  in  bring- 
ing the  latter  into  prominence. 

The  mistake  should  not  be  made,  however,  of  believing  that 
every  young  person  of  exceptional  intelligence  should  be  a  leader 
along  social  lines.  This  is  the  short-sighted  view  of  many  teachers, 


Conclusion  63 

who  seem  to  have  in  mind  a  single  standard  of  perfection  to  which 
all  pupils  must  be  urged  to  conform.  Such  a  policy  does  not  serve 
the  best  interests  of  society.  There  are  many  kinds  of  superiority, 
and  not  all  are  social,  nor  should  be  social.  The  Edisons  and  Ein- 
steins  of  the  world  seldom  go  among  men.  It  will  be  remembered 
that  two  boys  of  the  superior  group  deliberately  avoided  positions 
of  leadership,  though  they  were  much  criticized  by  their  teachers 
for  so  doing.  They  are  both  remarkable  boys  and  it  is  not  im- 
probable that  one  of  them  at  least  (Number  1 ,  see  Appendix)  will 
one  day  make  some  contribution  to  science,  which  is  the  field 
that  interests  him  most  deeply.  Such  a  pupil  is  doubtless  best 
left  in  peace  to  develop  his  abilities  without  undue  distraction. 
Youth  should  indeed  be  a  time  for  finding  oneself.  It  may  be 
that  the  development  of  qualities  of  leadership  should  simply  be 
postponed  until  a  later  period.  Pedagogically  the  difficulty  lies 
in  knowing  when  to  encourage  a  young  person  towards  leadership 
and  when  to  leave  him  alone.  Only  excellent  judgment  can  decide 
the  matter.  Fortunately  many  superiors  have  a  strong  instinc- 
tive feeling  of  what  is  best  for  them  and  may  be  safely  trusted  to 
work  out  their  own  destiny. 

The  key-note  in  the  education  of  an  exceptional  child  of  any 
age  is  to  provide  a  full  and  wholesomely  stimulating  environment. 
New  objects,  new  activities,  new  ideas  must  be  presented.  If  his 
intellectual  horizon  be  narrow,  he  will  fritter  away  his  time  on 
trifles.  We  have  noted  especially  (page  49)  one  striking  case  of 
mental  stagnation  resulting  from  too  few  demands  on  the  intelli- 
gence. 

The  superior  child  needs  a  superior  teacher.  The  prime  pre- 
requisite is  a  large  fund  of  knowledge,  common  sense,  and  sym- 
pathy. The  right  kind  of  teacher  will  not  waste  the  child's  time  on 
unessentials  or  in  unimportant  routine.  His  need  for  intellectual 
freedom  will  be  recognized  and  his  natural  independence  of 
thought  will  not  be  suppressed,  for  the  exceptional  child,  above 
all  others,  must  be  allowed  to  develop  his  individuality.  The 
teacher's  opinions  should  not  be  forced  upon  him.  The  real 
objectives  of  study  should  be  made  clear,  and  care  should  be 
taken  to  avoid  creating  what  Kipling  calls  "a  lust  for  mere 
marks."  Tolerance  in  point  of  view  and  emphasis  on  things  that 
are  important  should  characterize  the  instruction. 


64  Study  of  Some  High  School  Seniors  of  Superior  Intelligence 

It  would  seem  as  if  the  pedagogy  of  superiority  were  largely 
negative.  This  indeed  is  true.  Not  the  least  of  any  good  peda- 
gogy is  knowing  when  not  to  interfere,  and  with  superiors  this  is 
a  vital  point,  for  the  exploring  tendency  of  the  exceptional  mind 
needs  full  play.  There  is,  however,  a  positive  side  as  well.  The 
teacher  should  be  on  the  lookout  for  indications  of  mental  stress 
and  strain  and  be  ready  to  offer  encouragement  or  advice.  The 
high-school  pupil  especially  has  reached  a  period  when  he  is 
sometimes  desperately  in  need  of  a  mature  friend  to  help  him  out 
of  some  intellectual  tangle.  The  teacher  should  be  such  a 
friend.  The  teacher  should  also  stimulate  the  pupil  with  new 
ideas  and  suggestions  and  should  inspire  him  to  his  best  efforts. 
The  laws  of  mental  economy  and  efficient  use  of  the  mind  should 
be  pointed  out,  for  superiority  should  be  conserved  in  every  way. 

Details  of  pedagogical  procedure  can  not  be  discussed  here  for 
there  was  no  attempt  made  in  this  investigation  to  study  class- 
room methods.  Special  classes  for  superiors  are  suggested,  and 
doubtless  rightly,  by  others  interested  in  the  subject.  If  there 
were  special  classes,  unusually  competent  teachers  would  pre- 
sumably be  chosen  for  them.  In  the  light  of  the  value  to  society 
of  superior  ability  we  could  hardly  afford  to  do  otherwise.  It  is 
unfortunate  in  one  way  that  bright  pupils  weather  pedagogical 
mistakes  so  well,  for  we  are  tempted  to  think  that  there  are  none. 
Because  the  exceptional  child  gives  so  little  trouble  to  his  teachers 
and  generally  does  such  satisfactory  school  work,  we  suppose  that 
all  is  well.  We  forget  to  measure  results  in  terms  of  potentialities. 
Because  a  boy  does  well  in  school  does  not  mean  that  he  is  getting 
the  largest  returns  on  his  investment  of  time  and  energy. 

A  number  of  writers  have  called  attention  to  the  habits  of 
indolence  and  laxity  that  may  be  developed  in  children  of  excep- 
tional ability  who  do  not  have  full  opportunity  for  the  use  of  their 
powers.  Another  type  of  bright  child  to  whom  an  injustice  is 
also  done  has  been  overlooked  heretofore.  This  is  the  gifted  but 
over-conscientious  child  (usually  a  girl),  whose  marked  ability 
is  often  concealed  and  hampered  by  excessive  industry  and  over- 
scrupulousness.  Petty  requirements  and  the  drudgery  of  routine 
are  allowed  to  obscure  the  larger  aims  of  study.  Such  misplaced 
emphasis  may  form  bad  mental  habits  that  persist  through  life. 


Conclusion  65 

Superiority  is  conspicuous  for  its  complexity.  Though  there 
are  certain  general  characteristics  peculiar  to  all  superiors,  each 
one  is  a  case  by  itself.  In  the  high  school  especially  there  is  often 
great  need  for  study  of  individual  superiors  in  order  to  avoid 
misunderstanding  and  unsympathetic  judgment.  When  excep- 
tional intelligence  is  not  recognized  nor  understood  there  is  often 
great  wastage  of  talent.  An  important  use  of  mental  tests  should 
be  to  discover  cases  of  decided  ability  that  the  teacher  overlooks. 
While  intelligence  tests  agree  fairly  closely  with  both  school  marks 
and  teachers'  estimates  there  are  always  some  superiors  who  are 
underestimated  by  the  latter  criteria.  Number  13  (see  Appendix) 
illustrates  the  point.  A  few  of  his  teachers  have  known  that  he  is 
very  bright,  but  most  of  them  have  failed  to  appreciate  the  fact 
because  he  does  not  "conform"  to  school  ways.  He  graduated 
but  was  not  "recommended"  for  college.  There  is  every  reason  to 
think  that  an  earlier  mental  test,  with  a  sympathetic  handling  of 
the  case,  would  have  prevented  much  unhappiness  for  him  and  his 
parents.  Number  23  is  an  example  of  a  boy  whose  ability  was  fully 
recognized,  but  who  was  misjudged  as  selfish  and  anti-social  be- 
cause no  one  knew  of  his  home  conditions  and  the  grave  necessity 
for  giving  all  his  time  to  study  or  work,  a  necessity  that  kept  him 
from  any  participation  in  school  activities  of  a  social  nature. 
This  reticent,  conscientious  lad  felt  that  he  owed  his  foster 
mother  a  debt  of  .gratitude  that  could  only  be  repaid  by  persistent 
application  to  his  school  and  other  duties. 

Adequate  educational  guidance  should  be  provided  at  the 
outset  of  the  high-school  course  and  throughout.  There  are  a 
number  of  examples  of  misdirected  courses  among  the  superiors 
studied.  One  girl  has  completely  lost  interest  in  going  to  college 
as  a  result  of  gross  lack  of  educational  guidance.  Not  infre- 
quently a  young  person's  course  has  to  be  changed  after  two  or 
three  years  of  high  school,  and  this  always  works  a  hardship  to 
the  pupil  that  could  have  been  avoided.  One  of  the  duties  of  an 
educational  guide  should  be  to  see  that  every  superior  is  properly 
informed  as  to  the  necessary  requirements  for  college  and  to 
advise  him  strongly  to  go  there.  Any  cases  of  superior  pupils  not 
liking  school  should  be  carefully  investigated. 

Any  vocational  guidance  offered  should  not  be  inconsistent 
with  the  superior  voung  person's  need  for  a  thorough  general 


66  Study  of  Some  High  School  Seniors  of  Superior  Intelligence 

training  before  specialization  is  begun.  The  superior  girl  presents 
a  special  problem  in  vocational  guidance.  The  practically  unani- 
mous report  was  that  she  "does  not  like  housework"  but  "is  fond 
of  children."  Unhappiness  is  in  store  for  her  if  she  marries  without 
provision  for  some  work  besides  household  duties.  Insufficient 
exercise  of  superior  natural  abilities  is  a  genuine  hardship  and 
often  a  source  of  positive  misery.  The  difficulty  is  to  find  the  kind 
of  work  that  is  compatible  with  a  woman's  duties  in  the  home. 

These  are  merely  a  few  suggestions  offered  towards  the  con- 
servation of  superiority. 


APPENDIX  A 

CASE  STUDIES  OF  THREE  SUPERIOR  BOYS 

(These  individual  studies  are  added  to  make  clear  some  of  the 
traits  of  superiority.  The  first  boy  is  an  example  of  the  more 
brilliant  type  of  superior.  The  second  is  much  less  remarkable. 
The  third  case  suggests  certain  pedagogical  problems.) 

Number  1:  At  eighteen  made  a  score  of  191  in  the  Army  Alpha  test,  the  next 
highest  score  being  178;  tested  333  in  Stanford  test,  the  highest  score  being  346. 

An  only  child.  Father,  owner  of  a  cigar-store,  died  of  pneumonia  at  twenty-five, 
when  the  boy  was  only  three  years  old.  Ancestry  on  father's  side  somewhat  superior; 
on  mother's  side  probably  average.  Besides  all  the  "children's  diseases"  (measles, 
mumps,  whooping-cough,  and  chicken-pox),  the  boy  has  had  chorea,  pneumonia,  glan- 
dular trouble,  and  an  operation  on  the  mastoid  process.  All  these  illnesses  have  been 
severe,  and  the  boy  has  been  decidedly  irregular  in  school  attendance.  In  spite  of  this 
and  the  fact  that  he  has  attended  school  in  six  different  towns,  he  has  never  repeated 
a  grade,  and  has  three  times  been  promoted  on  the  strength  of  only  a  few  weeks' 
attendance.  His  school  marks  have  been  1's  or  2's — generally  1's.  In  high  school  his 
general  health  has  been  very  good. 

He  began  to  use  words  in  sentences  at  13  months.  At  three  years  could  say  about 
forty  Mother-Goose  rhymes.  As  a  little  child  he  asked  a  great  many  questions  and 
"wanted  to  get  to  the  bottom  of  everything."  His  mother  says  that  she  was  not 
well  enough  educated  to  answer  his  questions  very  well,  and  that  as  a  widow  she  was 
the  family  bread-winner,  so  the  boy  has  not  had  even  ordinary  advantages  at  home. 
He  learned  to  read  at  school  and  has  always  been  "very,  very  bookish."  When  he 
developed  chorea  at  the  age  of  eight  his  mother  wanted  to  take  him  out  of  school, 
but  this  suggestion  distressed  him  so  that  she  let  him  stay.  Poor  health  and  an  eager- 
ness for  books  and  knowledge  kept  him  from  play  and  the  society  of  other  children. 
In  grammar  school  he  distinguished  himself  in  debate  but  refused  to  continue  the  work 
in  high  school  because  he  said  it  would  waste  his  time.  He  has  always  been  fond  of 
music  but  has  not  wanted  instruction  because  "there  are  too  many  serious  things  to 
be  found  out."  He  had  only  one  chum  as  a  younger  boy,  and  has  just  one  now.  But 
he  is  eager  for  the  society  of  intelligent  adults  and  can  discuss  socialism,  politics, 
scientific  theory,  and  many  other  subjects  with  remarkable  astuteness.  If  he  finds 
himself  poorly  informed  he  will  discontinue  the  discussion  until  he  has  gathered  all 
possible  information.  Sometimes  he  will  spend  days  hunting  for  data  to  prove  a  point. 
Often  he  displays  a  keen,  caustic  wit.  He  takes  no  part  at  all  in  school  athletics,  though 
he  is  fond  of  "hiking"  and  boxing.  He  has  never  had  the  slightest  interest  in  making 
money,  but  has  done  it  as  a  necessity.  Prefers  to  be  shabbily  dressed  so  that  he  can 
save  his  money  to  buy  certain  editions  de  luxe.  Though  he  shows  decided  all-round 

67 


68  Study  of  Some  High  School  Seniors  of  Superior  Intelligence 

mental  ability,  for  several  years  he  has  been  particularly  interested  in  things  scientific. 
Last  summer  vacation  he  gave  nearly  all  his  leisure  time  to  a  study  of  astronomy. 
Home  study  takes  so  little  of  his  time  that  he  can  give  much  attention  to  such  things 
as  his  wireless  outfit,  experiments  in  physics,  reconstructing  a  Ford  car,  and  wide 
reading.  During  the  last  four  years  he  has  constructed  a  "wireless,"  a  hygrometer,  a 
copper-wire  thermometer,  a  "buzzer  telegraph,"  a  toy  submarine,  and  some  com- 
pound microscopes,  all  of  which  "worked."  He  has  written  for  the  school  magazine. 
He  also  does  excellent  work  with  tools.  As  his  mother  says,  "Anything  he  does,  he 
does  well." 

He  is  anxious  to  go  to  college  but  has  no  plans  for  the  future  other  than  a  desire 
to  study  as  much  as  possible  especially  along  scientific  lines.  He  says  he  will  know 
better  in  college  what  he  wants  to  do  afterwards. 

His  teachers  have  always  observed  his  exceptional  mental  capacity.  To  quote  a 
high-school  teacher,  "He  is  the  brightest  pupil  I  ever  taught,  and  especially  remarkable 
for  his  profound  grasp  of  a  subject."  Space  forbids  further  description  except  a  few 
other  adjectives  that  have  been  stressed  in  describing  him,  "independent,"  "deter- 
mined," "not  sociable,"  "absolutely  trustworthy." 

Number  2:  At  sixteen  scored  346  in  the  Stanford  test,  the  highest  score  made; 
Otis  test  155. 

Father  a  lawyer.  Both  parents  college  graduates.  Boy  has  two  brothers,  who 
are  just  as  bright;  his  sister  is  not  so  bright.  Ancestry  on  both  sides  superior.  The 
maternal  grandfather  was  a  distinguished  judge.  Boy  had  the  children's  diseases  and 
a  light  case  of  diphtheria,  but  up  to  sixteen  his  general  health  was  very  good.  At  that 
age  he  had  inflammatory  rheumatism  severely,  followed  by  chorea. 

He  began  putting  words  together  in  short  sentences  at  about  fifteen  months. 
At  five  years  he  began  to  be  taught  at  home  by  his  mother.  He  learnt  very  readily 
and  could  read  well  in  a  few  months.  At  the  end  of  his  fifth  year  he  had  completed 
practically  two  years  of  school  work.  At  six  he  entered  the  second  grade  at  school. 
In  spite  of  schooling  in  three  states  (five  schools)  and  two  years  spent  at  a  little  country 
school,  the  boy  has  managed  to  skip  a  grade  and  would  have  graduated  at  sixteen  and 
a  half  if  illness  had  not  overtaken  him.  His  school  marks  have  always  been  1's  or 
2's,  though  he  has  never  given  much  time  to  home  preparation. 

L.  is  an  example  of  excellent  general  ability.  Even  his  mother  says  this,  though 
she  has  not  considered  him  especially  remarkable,  probably  because  of  the  high 
standard  for  comparison  created  in  a  thoroughly  superior  family.  As  a  little  child  L. 
asked  very  intelligent  questions  and  often  came  out  with  a  thoughtful  explanation 
of  his  own.  He  early  learnt  to  amuse  himself  with  books,  but  had  the  play  interests  of 
a  normal  child,  too.  Later  he  became  an  enthusiastic  and  prominent  Boy  Scout  and 
has  always  loved  out-of-doors  and  his  garden.  He  is  skillful  with  tools.  All  his  school 
work  has  interested  him  and  his  teachers  rate  his  ability  as  very  superior.  Both  his 
mother  and  his  teachers  stress  his  power  of  reasoning,  capacity  for  concentration, 
independence  in  studying,  wide  range  of  general  information,  and  excellent  vocabulary. 
"Before  I  had  completed  the  sixth  grade  (ten  to  eleven  years),"  he  writes,  "I  was 
able  to  work  any  problem  in  the  arithmetic,"  in  other  words  to  do  perfect  eighth  grade 
work.  He  says  that  science  and  history  appeal  to  him  because  they  have  a  causal 
explanation  to  offer  and  "enable  one  to  think  out  better  adjustments  for  mankind" 
(to  quote  him).  He  is  in  the  habit  of  keeping  far  ahead  of  the  classes  in  physics  and 
chemistry.  He  would  like  to  be  a  chemical  engineer. 


Appendix  69 

The  really  remarkable  thing  about  L.,  however,  is  not  any  spectacular  idiosyn- 
crasy, but  his  ability  to  do  his  school  work  excellently  and  to  mix  with  his  fellows 
and  yet  to  carry  the  burden  that  his  home  has  put  upon  him  as  eldest  child  in  a  family 
where  the  mother  has  been  bed-ridden  for  several  years.  Since  domestic  servants 
are  almost  extinct  and  the  father  is  very  busy,  L.  does  an  almost  unbelievable  amount 
of  household  work — among  other  things  most  of  the  cooking,  buying,  and  managing. 
Fortunately  his  is  a  very  loving  and  appreciative  family.  "He  is  always  a  comfort 
and  a  joy,"  his  mother  says.  "His  judgment  is  so  good  and  he  is  so  reliable  and  sensible 
that  I  am  afraid  we  let  him  do  too  much,  though  it  seems  unavoidable."  L.  is  a  very 
lovable  boy,  liked  by  everybody. 

Number  13:  At  sixteen  scored  333  in  the  Stanford  test,  and  149  in  the  Otis. 

Father  a  prominent  oculist  and  a  clever  man.  Boy  has  two  brothers  who  are 
not  so  bright  as  he,  and  an  exceptionally  intelligent  sister  who  is  quite  his  equal. 
Ancestry  on  both  sides  superior.  Boy's  health  excellent. 

At  two  the  child  was  put  in  charge  of  a  German  nursery-governess.  His  mother 
(who  gave  him  little  personal  attention  at  that  time)  does  not  think  he  could  put 
words  together  in  short  sentences  until  he  was  three  when  he  had  learnt  to  speak 
German.  At  five  he  could  read  and  write  English  and  German  and  add  and  subtract. 
He  entered  the  "high"  third  grade  when  he  was  nearly  seven.  His  elementary-school 
marks  average  1—  and  his  high-school  marks  2  —  .  But  the  average  of  high-school 
teachers'  estimates  is  only  3+.  It  is  quite  likely  that  there  is  a  great  deal  of  truth  in 
what  a  teacher,  who  has  known  him  for  years,  says  of  him:  "He  is  an  example  of  the 
doctrine  of  interest  gone  to  the  bad."  Personally  he  is  a  very  likable  lad  with  uncom- 
monly charming  manners,  but  during  most  of  his  high-school  course  he  has  been  some- 
thing of  a  problem  to  his  teachers.  A  visit  to  the  home  explained  much.  Plenty  of 
money,  no  necessity  for  doing  things  at  certain  times,  no  demands  made  on  him  at  all — 
and  two  doting  parents.  It  is  really  surprising  that  the  boy  does  not  make  a  worse 
showing  for  he  has  been  allowed  to  follow  his  inclinations  to  his  heart's  content  and 
there  has  been  an  ever-present  parent  to  fight  his  battles — to  insist  upon  doing  so — if 
anything  goes  wrong.  Nothing  has  gone  very  wrong  (he  is  thoroughly  honorable  and 
not  naturally  prankish)  but  R.  has  a  wonderful  faculty  for  "never  hearing  when  the 
notice  was  read,"  for  forgetting  to  hand  in  his  note-book,  or  failing  to  be  in  the  proper 
place  at  the  proper  time,  in  short,  for  doing  just  about  what  he  pleases  with  a  glorious 
disregard  for  rules  and  regulations.  He  has  a  remarkable  laboratory  of  his  own,  which 
he  has  largely  made  and  equipped  himself — often  spending  his  "lunch  money"  on 
apparatus  and  chemicals — and  many  a  time  he  will  work  there  until  two  in  the  morning 
• — but  not  on  the  experiments  due  next  day!  His  reading  covers  an  exceptionally 
wide  range  of  subjects,  but  he  is  quite  likely  to  be  engaged  in  an  intensive  study  of 
Einstein  when  he  should  be  preparing  for  an  examination  in  literature.  He  busily 
pursues  his  own  ends  regardless,  for  the  most  part,  of  criticism  or  interference. 


APPENDIX  B 


QUESTIONNAIRE 

INTERESTS 

1.  Go  through  the  following  list  of  studies  and  mark  every  one  that  you  have  taken 
in  the  way  you  are  directed  under  "a"  and  "b"  below.  Mark  only  the  studies  you 
have  taken.  Follow  directions  carefully.  Erase  and  change  as  much  as  you  please. 

a.  Underline  3  times  those  that  have  interested  you  most. 
Underline  twice  those  you  have  regarded  indifferently. 
Underline  once  those  you  have  disliked. 

b.  Mark  at  the  side  with  3  crosses  those  you  have  found  the  easiest. 

Mark  with  two  crosses  those  you  have  found  neither  very  easy  nor  very 

difficult,  that  is,  about  average. 

Mark  with  one  cross  those  you  have  found  the  most  difficult. 


English 

Social  Problems 

Economics 

Algebra 

Geometry 

Commercial  Law 
*  Accounting 

Biology 

Physiology  &  Hygiene 

Civics 

American  History 

Ancient  History 

Modern  European  History 

Medieval  History 

English  History 

French 

German 

Spanish 

Latin 

Salesmanship 

Advertising 
Add  any  other  subjects  you  have  taken. 
2.  -In  what  studies  have  you  been  unusually  interested? 


Commercial  Arithmetic 

Shop  Mathematics 

Trigonometry 

General  Science 

Chemistry 

Physics 

Botany 

Stenography 

Typing 

Bookkeeping 

Office  Practice 

Shop  Work 

Freehand  Drawing 

Mechanical  Drawing 

Design 

Dressmaking  or  Sewing 

Millinery 

Home  Economics 

History  of  Music 

Music  (Choral,  Band,  etc.) 

Physical  &  Commercial  Geography 


Why? 


Do  you  give  any  of  these  unusually  interesting  studies  a  greater  amount  of  time, 

70 


Appendix 
thought,  or  study?    If  so,  tell  what  you  do 


71 


3.  Name  any  school  subjects  that  you  have  not  taken  in  which  you  have  a  particular 
interest: 

4.  Name  the  subjects  that  you  would  be  most  interested  in  studying  in  college: 

5.  Do  high-school  studies,  generally  speaking,  fail  to  interest  you  particularly?    If 
so,  why? 

6.  What  kind  of  reading  has  interested  you  most?    For  example,  have  you  preferred 
love  stories,  stories  of  adventure,  stories  of  home  life,  sentimental  poetry,  books  and 
articles  on  electricity,  wireless,  business,  religion,  history,  gardening,  housekeeping, 
politics,  current  events,  general  information,  etc.,  etc.    Mention  several  kinds  if  you 
wish,  in  the  order  of  your  preference  if  you  can. 


7.  Do  you  ever  read  the  enclyclopedia  except  when  you  need  to  for  your  school  work? 
If  so,  why  and  how  much? 


What  subjects  do  you  prefer? 


8.  About  how  many  hours  a  week  do  you  spend  in  reading  which  is  not  required  by 
your  teachers? 

9.  Give  the  names  of  books,  magazines,  newspapers,  etc.,  which  you  have  read  during 
the  past  twelve  months  other  than  those  read  as  required  preparation  for  school 
studies.    If  you  can  not  remember  names  of  books  give  the  author  and  about  the 
number  of  his  books  you  have  read  this  year.    If  you  have  forgotten  both  title  and 
author,  tell  the  general  subject-matter  of  the  book  (fiction,  electricity,  etc.)  and  the 
number  of  each  kind  read.    Write  "regularly"  after  the  names  of  magazines  or  news- 
papers which  you  have  read  fairly  regularly. 


BOOKS 
Author                   Title 

MAGAZINES 
(Both  monthly  and  weekly) 

NEWSPAPERS,  ETC. 

(Write  on  the  back  of  page  if  necessary) 


72 


Study  of  Some  High  School  Seniors  of  Superior  Intelligence 


10.  Tell  what  has  interested  you  most,  that  is,  what  have  you  liked  best  to  do  and  to 
think  about,  what  things  or  thoughts  or  activities  have  aroused  your  greatest  interest. 

Perhaps  you  like  reading  and  studying  best.  Perhaps  sports  and  athletics  are 
your  keenest  interest;  or  music  and  embroidery.  Perhaps  you  like  to  think  and  read 
about  certain  subjects  such  as  electricity,  mathematical  problems,  inventions,  evolu- 
tion, or  religion. 

Here  are  parts  of  replies  from  two  pupils  in  another  town :  "I  like  to  work  at  mathe- 
matical problems  and  have  ever  since  I  was  8  years  old  when  I  did  problems  in  arith- 
metic that  nobody  else  in  the  class  could  do.  When  I  was  about  10  my  uncle  gave 
me  a  book  of  puzzles  that  were  mostly  mathematical,  and  I  found  them  so  interesting 
that  I  did  them  in  most  of  my  spare  time  for  several  months.  Math  is  a  sort  of  game 
to  me,  not  always  easy  but  very  interesting.  In  high  school  I  have  generally  worked 
ahead  of  the  class  in  algebra  and  geometry  and  like  the  originals  in  geometry  espe- 
cially. I  suppose  I  have  spent  on  an  average,  during  high  school,  about  a  half  hour  a 
day  on  math  work  I  didn't  have  to  do  for  the  next  lesson"  etc.,  etc.  "Next  to  dramatics 
and  tennis" (we  shall  omit  the  writer's  description  of  these  interests),  "I  have  been  most 
interested  in  some  subjects  that  have  come  up  in  connection  with  my  lessons.  I  read 
something  in  my  history,  when  I  was  a  Freshman,  about  a  philosopher  called  Kant. 
I  looked  him  up  in  the  encyclopedia  and  found  out  something  about  other  philosophers 
and  their  beliefs.  I  have  tried  to  learn  all  I  can  about  such  things  and  have  been 
intensely  interested.  I  am  afraid  people  will  laugh  at  me  if  I  tell  them  30  I  just  talk 
it  over  with  my  chum  and  have  resolved  to  take  Philosophy  in  college."  Etc.,  etc. 

Below  and  on  the  accompanying  blank  sheet  describe  your  own  interests  care- 
fully and  in  detail.  Give  your  interests  before  you  entered  high  school  as  well  as  the 
later  ones.  Remember  I  want  to  find  out  what  had  really  interested  you  mast.  In  every 
case  tell  (1)  how  old  you  were  when  you  began  to  be  interested,  (2)  who  or  what  started 
your  interest,  (J)  how  intense  it  was,  (4)  how  long  it  lasted,  (5)  anything  else  you  can 
think  of  about  these  interests.  If  you  are  an  "all-round"  person,  liking  school  work  and 
play  and  nearly  everything  else  about  equally,  say  so,  but  tell  what  interests  you  most 
if  you  can. 

11.  What  things  have  you  made,  invented,  or  constructed  yourself,  or  what  have 
you  accomplished  in  any  creative  way?    Make  a  complete  list. 

Examples:  built  canoe,  made  a  dress,  wrote  short  story. 

Give  your  age  at  the  time,  and  tell  whether  the  thing  was  a  success,  that  is,  was 
it  usable,  or  wearable,  or  was  it  printed  or  good  enough  to  be  printed,  etc.,  etc. 


ACHIEVEMENT 

How  OLD  WERE  You 
THEN? 

WAS  THE  THING  A  SUCCESS? 

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

Appendix 


73 


ACHIEVEMENT 

How  OLD  WERE  You 
THEN? 

WAS  THE  THING  A  SUCCESS 

5. 

6. 

7. 

8. 

9. 

10. 

12.  Name  all  the  school  offices,  positions,  or  honors  you  have  ever  had,  such  as  class 
president,  reporter  on  school  paper,  member  of  high  scholarship  societies,  band,  base- 
ball team,  debating  club,  school  committees  (what?),  or  actor  in  plays  (what  parts  did 
you  have?),  etc.  Give  a  complete  list. 


POSITIONS 

How  OLD  WERE  You 
WHEN  You  BEGAN? 

How  LONG  Dm  You 
KEEP  IT  UP? 

1. 

2 

3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

7. 

8. 

9. 

10. 

13.  Name  any  other  activities  or  organizations — clubs,  societies,  teams,  etc.,  such 
as  Y.  M.  C.  A.  teams,  Christian  Endeavor,  Campfire  Girls,  small  clubs — in  which 
you  have  ever  taken  part. 


74 


Study  of  Some  High  School  Seniors  of  Superior  Intelligence 


ACTIVITY 

How  OLD  WERE 
You  WHEN  You 
BEGAN? 

How  LOND  DID 
You  KEEP  IT 
UP? 

WAS  THIS  ORGAN- 
IZED OR  MANAGED 
BY  You? 

1 

2. 

3. 

• 

4. 

5. 

6. 

7. 

8. 

9. 

14.  Name  achievements  or  activities  not  yet  mentioned,  such  as  appearing  in  recitals 
or  concerts,  printing  a  child's  newspaper,  wiring  your  basement  for  electric  lighting, 
winning  a  prize  or  medal  (for  what?),  etc. 


ACHIEVEMENT 

How  OLD  WERE  You  THEN? 

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

Appendix 


75 


OCCUPATIONS 

15.  Tell  the  nature  and  extent  of  all  (a)  paid  employments  outside  your  home  and 
(b)  home  duties  you  have  had. 


A.     EMPLOYMENT  OR 
JOB  OUTSIDE  YOUR 
HOME 

How  OLD  WERE 
You  WHEN  You 
BEGAN? 

How  MANY  HOURS 
A  WEEK  ON  AN 
AVERAGE? 

How  LOND  DID 
You  KEEP  IT  UP? 

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

7. 

8. 

B.  HOME  DUTIES 

16.  What  do  you  plan  as  your  chief  occupation  in  life? 


17.  What  led  you  to  this  choice? 


18.  If  you  have  not  decided  on  your  vocation,  what  lines  of  work  are  you  considering? 

19.  If  your  choice  is  not  your  real  preference,  what  would  you  most  like  to  do?    If 
you  are  a  girl  and  would  prefer  the  home  duties  of  a  married  woman  as  your  vocation, 
please  say  so  


20.  If  you  have  made  a  decision  as  to  your  future  occupation,  at  what  age  did  you 
decide? 


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